painting with pnut.

Or Mr. Greg Galinsky:)

Many 4th graders needed more time this week to finish their Hundertwasser complementary color paintings, so I wanted to do something this week that kids could jump into at different times during class and still have success.

I came across Pnut's work earlier this month on pinterest and pinned a photo of a deck series that he had done for FTC skateboards.

I loved the simplicity of the shapes and composition. Economic and clean. Pared down shapes and colors. I thought his work would make for a perfect exploration of monochromatic color schemes.

I introduced his work to the classes via his website. I showed them the pics from his bio page and shared that he is a month older than me. It was so "nice" to hear from numerous students that Pnut looks so much younger then me! Darn you Pnut;)

We looked at some of his commercial work and a few of his paintings. I contrasted his work with the bold, many colored work of Hundertwasser. We talked about how Greg's work has a strong sense of unity because of his use of monochromatic or analogous color schemes. We also identified his use of contour lines to define the shapes in his work, both objects and background shapes. We also addressed his use of tints and shades of colors to add variety to his images.

I wanted students to use Pnut's work as inspiration, not to simply copy it, so I decided to give them a choice. They could use an instrument for their subject or they could use a music listening device instead. I projected images of an ipod, boombox, walkman, record player, and phonograph for the students to choose from.

Students started the project by shaping their board with scissors. They then did at least 2 skethces on the name side of their board. Once they had something they liked, they drew it out lightly on the front and traced it over with a black crayon to make the  contours bold and strong.

I demonstrated how to make tints by adding more water to their tempera paint and how to make shades by adding black.

It has been interesting to see the variations in subject, color, and composition that the students have come up with.

So far, not much love for green. Same goes for the phonograph:)

MLK.

Wow. Just wow.

In honor of Martin Luther King, Zamorano held a day of service at our site to beautify our campus and to make our students' days a little brighter. One of our administrators, Kathleen Gallagher, arranged for UCSD students to volunteer at our site on Sunday morning. There were around 100 students from UCSD, plus a large number of Zamo kids, families, and teachers, who volunteered their morning.

Garden beds were redone, trashcans were painted, the kinder playground got some color, offices were labeled in creative ways, and a mural was almost completed. Everybody involved was so incredible.

Below are a number of photos of the mural painting. It was crazy to see how fast colors were added to the wall. When I do the year end legacy project with our 5th graders, the kids paint with 1" brushes to make sure they all get a chance to contribute. I designed this mural, so that most of it could be filled with 3" rollers.

3rd grade teacher, Ms. Borden, rocking some hands.

My kiddos even got in on the action.

 Grammy and grandpa got to take a well earned "break" from grand kid wrangling to add some color.

 My Jorges! Father and son were there setting up before me and stayed until the very end. The mural wouldn't look nearly as sharp without their help.

The almost completed mural. I'll finish the portrait tomorrow.

Finished! (except for touch ups:)

Here are a few photos of the other projects that were completed that day:)

Garden beds were cleaned and filled with fresh soil. The one closest to the front will be a succulent garden.

Trash bins were painted. Our site is starting breakfast in the classroom this week, so there were around 45 of these that got dressed up.

Borders of the planters in the front of the school were painted.

 Offices were labeled.

The wall around the kinder playground was painted too.

Here is a link to what UCSD had to say about the day of service:)

brrrr...

It's been pretty dang chilly this week... for San Diego;)

I thought it would be ,um, cool, to do a winter project with my first graders. I had pinned an anonymous icicle collage a couple of months ago and decided to use that as my inspiration.

The morning I started the project with my classes, I checked out one of my favorite art blogs, Colossal, and this was posted! I loved being able to share some of these images with the classes as an intro to what icicles are, what they look like.

Photo by Gary Jensen

We started by reviewing the color mixing we did on the candy corn still life drawings. I then talked about mixing violet. The plan was to make a purple sky background by mixing red and blue tempera paint. The kids LOVED doing this.

While the paintings dried, I introduced what icicles are and what kind of geometric forms they are- cones.  I then showed students a finished example of the project, talked about tearing the paper to make the shapes, and adding a shadow to make them look 3d and round.

Students tore the colored pieces into icicle shapes, attempted to keep them sorted by color on their tables, and added a blue shadow to one side of each piece.

I reminded the students about the texture clay texture project we did before winter break. I had the students wrinkle up at least one icicle, so they would have a contrast between bumpy and smooth textures. Some students decided to wrinkle all their pieces, some did a few, and a few did one.

Students then glued their paper icicles on to their purple paintings.

I think, for such a simple looking project, this actually packed a lot of content and skill practice punch.

adding color, together.

This Sunday Zamorano will be having a beautification day because one of our kinder teachers wrote a garden grant and got funding for it!

Anybody that wants to step up and help us with a variety of projects, please feel free to stop by and lend a hand from 9 to 12 pm. There will be approximately 70 students from UCSD volunteering time in honor of Martin Luther King. Flower boxes will be filled and painted, the kindergarten playground will be enhanced, and we will be painting a large mural.

I started drawing the mural out today. The basic composition. Over the next couple days I will add symbols and a portrait of MLK to the medallions. The mural combines two themes- that of garden/growth and characteristics that Martin Luther King called for.

The hand symbols in the medallions speak to caring, service, and cooperation. They will be done in blacks, grays, and whites.

The garden theme is created through the colors of the remaining elements and the shapes of the vertical seedpods.

The glowing sun in the background, the greens of the vertical elements, and the blues of the medallions/droplets to represent water.

Our goal is to have the entire 18' long mural painted in 3 hours. Wish us luck:) I think we can do it!

My trusty compass:)

trees with no leaves.

Winter break was great. Quality time with family and friends. Photographs taken. Started running.

It feels good to get back in the swing of school though. The first classes I worked with this week were the 4th graders. The lesson focused on the 4th grade standards of identifying contrast and using complementary colors.

The lesson was inspired by an image I found on pinterest, which identified Hunsertwasser as the inspiration for it. I have not been able to track back to the origin of the project, so if anyone reading this knows, please let me know:)

Hundertwasser was an Austrian artist who was inspired by nature. He combined elements of landscape, portraiture, and architecture into brightly colored and layered works of art. I have admired his work for a long time, dating back to my college years at Tyler School of Art in the early 90s.

I shared several of his paintings with each of the classes. I talked about how he would use complementary colors in some of his work to make areas pop or contrast against each other.

In the above example we addressed how the trees really stood out against the red head behind them. This would not be the case if the head was done in blues or yellows. I also brought up Hundertwasser's use of layers and repetition in his work. Some parts of his work could be thought of like the inside of an onion. There is a big containing shape, but there could be many layers that get smaller and smaller inside it.

I thought this project was appropriate for our winter return to school because of the use of barren trees. We discussed how trees often lose their leaves in winter, even though we don't get a lot of it here in San Diego:)

We drew out the composition together, although I stressed that everyone's would look different due to shape types, shape sizes, shape spacing, and color choices. We drew out our oval center first, with at least 3 rings. I emphasized that the largest oval should be about 1/3 of the height of their paper, so their tree trunks wouldn't be too small. Then we drew our trunks, roots, and branches. Our borders came next, and as a rule of thumb (haha) our borders should be about a thumb width wide.

When it came to painting, the students had to pick one color for their trees and then use it's opposite/complement for the first border. After that, they were free to use any colors they liked. Before I let them at it, I did a demonstration on how to paint large areas and narrow areas using our 1/2 inch flat brushes.

Use the shape of the brush to your advantage! Turn it on its skinny edge and press lightly to paint small or detailed areas.

 This student rocked the project with his opposite hand! He was not expecting to have to try it, but once we taped his paper to the table he was off and running:)

A good number of students have finished already, and many have been coming in at recess since it has been unusually frigid her this week. Students will have a few minutes at the beginning of class next week to wrap these up.

Great to see you 4th graders!

speed building.

Hello there. It has been a while...

Let me ease back into this thing by sharing a couple images of my recess construction crew. I have an open door policy at recess, so that students may finish projects or free draw if they choose. 

I also have a bunch of wooden blocks in my room and a small team of 4th grade girls has been stopping by to see what they can build in 15 minutes. It's great! They understand that whatever they build, they are going to have to take apart before they leave. Sometimes the structures have been very tall, sometimes short and wide. I have really enjoyed having the girls visit. It's pretty cool to see what they come up with and what kind of dialogue they have with each other as they are working. 

They work extremely well together:)

Keep it up ladies!