warm and cool pendletons.

The 3rd graders got pretty messy with their chalk pastel cacti last week, so I thought I'd give them a cleaner project to try out this time. We're still focusing on warms and cools, but we are looking at an artwork that looks a lot different than our Jenny Willigrod inspired cacti, too. The painting below is by one of my favorite designers, Don Pendleton. I usually do at least one project inspired by his work each year. (Like this, and this, and this:) You can discuss many elements when looking at his work with kids- types of lines, types of shapes, color, focal points, and even art history by linking his work to the cubists and abstractionists that have come before...

I'm beginning to play with visual thinking strategies in my instruction, using it as a warm up, in hopes of having our classroom teachers explore it with their students next year. When I shared this image with the classes, I asked them to quietly look for a minute, then I asked- "What is going on here?" After each response, I paraphrased it, and then asked for more from other students- not what else is there, but "Is there more going on?" Students were able to break down and identify so much about the image, using a great deal of vocab. I'll be continuing this and going further with the approach with each grade level this year. As I've been learning about the approach, the benefits/skills should lend themselves well to other subjects, especially ELA.

Anywho...

Students started their own versions by drawing a large central shape- circle, diamond, or square. They then broke up the shape and the background with verticals and horizontals. They could fill the interior shapes with any characters, any things like wanted. Some went with Don's vocab of shapes, others did their own thing. They traced their lines with black crayons and sharpies to make them bold and strong.

Students used either warm colors or cools inside the main shape and the opposite on the outside. They used crayola washable markers to color.

They went over their marker parts with a wet brush to create a painted effect and to fill the shapes in more completely.

As usual, students completed an exit slip. I asked them to identify how this painting project was similar to their cacti drawings. They also needed to express which one they enjoyed more with a "because" statement.

colorful cacti- 3rd grade style:)

Like the kinders this week, my 3rd graders are also looking at the brightly colored work of Jennifer Willigrod for inspiration in their first color unit lesson. They are learning about warms and cools too.

We are starting the lesson by reviewing how they created tints and shades in their value unit. (cool side note- we heard back from all 3 of our focus artists about those projects:) Then we look at how Jennifer uses the contrast of warm and cool colors to get her subjects to stand out against the background. We talk about how Jennifer chooses plants that are from a warm, dry climate and how San Diego has a similar climate. Lastly, we talk about how Jennifer uses chalk pastels to create her richly colored desert plant drawings. Be prepared to get messy, kids!

We draw out the cacti together and then choose warms or cools to fill them in. The opposite set of colors is used in the background. To wrap up the exercise, students complete an exit slip that asks them how their drawing is similar to Jennifer's, why they chose the colors they did on their cacti, and what they think the most successful part of their drawing is.

 Committing to warm or cool cacti:)

Trying to hold the paper steady by touching empty spots and drawing without resting the drawing hand/arm on the table!

Reflecting and analyzing.

 Instead of using tints and shades to make their shapes look 3d as in previous lessons, students went from the darkest of their warm/cool colors, to medium, and then light.

ziggin and zaggin with warms and cools.

The 2nd graders are continuing their study of warm and cool colors this week. We are using a collage by San Francisco based artist and designer, Rex Ray. (Who sadly passed away in February). Rex made some amazing images in his career. Some are very detailed and layered and some, like the focus piece, are simpler, but still visually engaging. I wanted them to see that they could use warm and cools in an abstract piece of art and still create contrast and interest.

Before starting the lesson, we reviewed the warms and cools and how they applied them in their bridge drawings inspired by Tadahiro Uesugi's concept art from Big Hero 6. I then shared Rex's piece and we identified the colors in that and also identified shapes and lines as well.

Students started by drawing a vertical line from top top bottom, splitting the paper into bigger and smaller sides. They then added one zig zag line across one of the sides. From that line, students added lines that went up or down from the line's corners. They used either warm or cool oil pastels to fill in about half of the shapes they made.

On the empty side, students used the opposite temperature to make a big, bold line from top to bottom. The type of line was up to them.

Then we switched over to watercolors and used the opposite colors of the oil pastel parts to fill in the rest of their compositions.

Once they were done painting, students wrote complete sentences that identified the warm and cool colors and they also reflected on both pieces from this rotation to decide which one they were more successful with. They were supposed to support their response with a "because" statement.

You should also check out the project that Laura over at Painted Paper did with her kiddos that was inspired on Rex's work. She works more truly with the collage aspect of much of his work:)

building bridges.

The 2nd graders are starting their color unit by learning about warm and cool colors this week. To help them with this, I'm using a piece of concept art from the Disney movie Big Hero 6. (the big bummer for me right now is that I can't figure out who the concept artist who made it actually is!)

Before starting with the day's work, we review what the kids learned in their last project- the abstract landscapes inspired by Jason Messinger's clay tiles. We talk about dark and light, hard and soft, and big and small. I tell the kids  that we are going to use all that stuff again today and that all of those are examples of contrast in art.

We then get into one more pair of contrasts- warm and cool colors. We identify them and I write them on the board. I also show the kids where they are located in my room, so if they aren't sure when they are working on their drawing, they can look at the list on the board and/or look at the visual examples posted in the back of the room.

When I share the bridge drawing from San Fransokyo, we talk about how it is an example of combining two places- San Francisco and Tokyo, Japan to make something new. The concept artist took the Golden Gate bridge and modified it with traditional Japanese architectural elements. We also identify that the sky is cool and the bridge is warm, that the sky is light and the bridge is bold. The bridge is big in the front and small in the back.

The project is done with both chalk pastels and oil pastels. Students pick warm or cool to use in the chalk background and use the opposite on the foreground bridge with their oil pastels. We do the sky first and then draw over it for the bridge. Students can add flair to their bridge and light posts if they wish to make it more unique.

This has been a very successful project in terms of correctly splitting their drawing into warm and cool parts, as well as creating a sense of 3d space.

I love the dragon head light posts!

look at baymax fly!