still life times 3.

Hello... is this thing on?

For the past couple of weeks, 3 different grade levels have been brainstorming and planning as they experiment with composition, color, value, and 3d volume/space. Each of the projects also addresses the idea of self as they are composed of personal items and favorites.

I introduced my 1st graders to the works of British artist Michael Craig Martin. I get a kick out of his thematic compositions and how he elevates and subverts this scholastic magazine/ visual dictionary figurative style. We looked at how some shapes were overlapped by others and how that's an example of front/back. We also noticed his free use of color to fill his objects.

We used his style and image structures to create a still life that was composed of things we liked to play or work with.

The kids started by writing a list of 5 things and then doing small sketches of them. After that, they moved on to taking those and trying out at least 2 different composition sketches. Before moving on to the final I have them share why they're choosing one sketch over the other to a partner.

I always encourage drawing softly, drawing bigger, and that changes may occur from small sketch to big final. They used crayon and cake temperas to complete the project. 

This is the first time these 1sts have gone though these steps with me and they did a wonderful job with the creative process.

My 4ths were using a still life by Roy Lichtenstein as the inspiration for a crayon and tempera multi panel personal still life. We identified how he used multiple panels to break up the picture. We talked about comics and how Roy was inspired by their look and visual devices. We connected this to the graphic novels today and the intro credit sequence to Marvel Comics movies these days.

The project involved them brainstorming, practicing, and planning a still life that used a minimum of 3 frames to communicate something about themselves. They also used crayon and cake temperas to complete their project.

Currently, my 3rds are also experimenting with the still life subject. This time, focusing on composition, color value, and 3d volume. We are looking at the work of LA based photographer Stephanie Gonot. I love how her compositions of food items references decorative patterns. The sweetness of her subjects and color choices also draw me right in. We look at a Picasso still life in my room and identify the point of view present in it. I then share overhead photos of food still lifes she has done and we talk about the overhead point of view and then get into shadow and light. This ties in with 3rd grade science concepts. How if we see the shadows on one side, the light source is directly opposite it. How shadows change in size and direction throughout the day, and how different size objects create different size cast shadows.

They, too, are listing, practicing, and planning as they create a still life that shows 3d volume and space, a consistent application of light source and shadow, and developing sense of effective/engaging compositions.

getting in the pond with Melissa.

The kinders are continuing their value unit this week. The focus image was done by American illustrator Melissa Sweet.  I love the soft touch with color that she displays in many of her illustrations. The 3rd graders are going to be working from an illustration she did for a book about Horace Pippin later this week as well.

We started the lesson by reviewing the vocabulary we used in the Budi Kwan project from last week- value, light, dark, soft, hard, and oil pastels. This project used all those too, but the 2 projects/artworks look a a lot different from each other.

Students identified the things they saw in Melissa's painting. We talked about how the painting is of a frog and it's habitat. (science connection for the win;) I guided them to also recognize that some of the lily pads were dark and some were light and the flower has dark and light pink petals.

The lesson is pretty straightforward-

1.  Draw the flower. Start with an oval and add a couple sets of bump patterns around it for the petals.
2.  Draw the line that separates the ground from the pond. Overlapping!
3.  Draw a few lily pads. Have at least one go off the page. I referenced pac-man for the shape. I also pointed out that the lily pad shape is a big "C" with a "V" cut into it.
4.  Draw the frog. It starts out the same as the lily pads, but you also add an "m" for where the eyes go.
5.  Color the lily pads with greens. Press hard on a couple and light on a couple. Color the petals of the flower. Press soft on the inside and light on the outer ones.
6.  Color the frog. Press hard with yellow and then softly with a green to make it a bit different than the lily pads.
7.  Color the ground softly with brown. Press hard to add a shadow underneath it. Use the side of the oil pastel to color a large area easily.
8.  Color the water of the pond with blue and/or purple.
9.  Write a guided sentence or two about the project. Students can count how many lily pads they have or describe how they made or used light and dark.

making lights and darks with Budi.

This week the kinders are starting their value unit with me. I wanted to do something that had a good bit of repetition in it, so they could have an opportunity to practice making light and dark values over and over again. Next week, we will apply this practice to a different looking project.

I am using an illustration by Budi Satria Kwan as the focus of this lesson. I came across his work on pinterest recently and thought this illustration had the elements I was looking for- repetition of shape and values, simple, and a bit playful for the kinders.

I started the lesson by reviewing the tree collages we did last time that focused on geometric shapes. I explained what value is, and then I shared a short video interview with Budi. 

This personalized Budi and the kids could see that he is a pretty young artist. He does mostly digital illustrations that become posters and t-shirt designs. (I actually a couple of his t-shirts that he designed for Threadless. I didn't realize this until scrolling through his portfolio and watching the interview:)

When we looked at the above illustration, I had students identify what they saw and how one part of each leaf was light and the other part was dark.

Before starting the drawing, I introduced oil pastels to the kids. I described them as softer, messier crayons with really strong colors.

We did the drawing in 4 parts-

1. drew out the plant stems and leaves in pencil

2. pressed hard and soft with oil pastels to make light and dark values

3. added white to a few leaves to see how that can also make colors lighter

4. traced the pencil lines with black to make the colors pop out more against the white background

At the end of the lesson, we wrote out a sentence together about our drawing. Classes have done some different sentences, but all students needed to count their leaves and include that number quantity.

 some students drew A LOT of leaves:)

 some students got a lil' funky with their stem lines:)

FYI- prepare for some chuckles from the kids when you say his name. Anything that sounds even a little bit like "booty" is gonna get some laughs with 5 and 6 year olds:)

creating cacti.

Last week my 4th graders were focused on making flat shapes turn into implied 3d volumes. I shared the work of British illustrator Joshua Wiley with them, as well as numerous photos of cacti from right here in San Diego. This provided a comparison between figurative abstract style and realistic style.

We also talked about what conditions cacti thrive in (not really in the climate of England), and lo and behold, the kids figured out that San Diego has a pretty sweet climate for cacti:)

Students identified that even though Joshua's cacti looked different, he still made some of them look somewhat 3d by using light and dark colors. 

Students were to practice drawing at least 3 cacti from the images on the smartboard screen, after that they were to make at least one small compositional sketch so that they had a spacing and size plan for their final, larger sheet of paper. Joshua's work was cool because it was less intimidating to observe and render than the photos. Students did not have to copy the examples, they could make changes and alter the cacti shapes if they chose to do so. I modeled how most of the cacti are made with ovals, some of which are long and thin, while others are short and thick.

When students started working on their larger drawings they could use chalk pastels and/or crayola colorsticks, which are like woodless colored pencils. I demonstrated how to work the chalk pastels to create smooth and rough textures.

Many students did not complete their large drawings last week, so they are finishing them up this week before they start on their next project. 

The next project happens to be a clay one. They created implied texture and volume in their drawings and they are making actual texture and volume when they create their clay cacti and pots. They can not start on their cay project until they have used light and dark on the cacti and pots in their drawings. The pressure is on, but they are getting them done... so far;)

clay cacti coming up!