Friday, March 25, 2011

Project #5 - Hidden Safari



In this project, we went on a safari in our classroom. We watched the Lion King to see different animals. We learned about warm colors and cool colors and even contour drawing. We did some practice with drawing and then had to turn our paper upside down to draw them from the wrong side up. I thought it was a lot easier to draw this way. We made special “Ruby Red Glasses” in this project too out of construction paper and red cellophane paper.

We had to draw an animal that we would see on a safari. We drew these animals in a sky blue colored pencil. After we were done drawing, we started to draw different patterns over top of our drawing with the warm colors. Warm colors include red, orange, and yellow. I drew a triangle checkerboard with yellow, a square checkerboard in red, and circles in orange. I then went over those things with red squiggles and orange hearts. The only way that you can see my animal is if you use the “Ruby Red Glasses”. Using them takes away the warm colors and exposes the cool colors. My animal was drawn in a blue color which is a cool color. Other cool colors are purple and green. It is really neat how you can only see your drawing if you use the special glasses. We also gave three hints of what our animal was and are displayed with a pair of “Ruby Red Glasses” in the hallway for people to look at them.


In an extension activity, I would have the children learn about the different animals. They could learn about their habitat, their diet, and other different facts about the animal. This way they are integrating science with their art work as well. They could even show other peers what they found out about this animal through science.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Project #4 - Collage Illustration


For this project, we learned a lot about Eric Carle. He is a author as well as an illustrator for his children's books. He uses a lot with layering, painting, cutting, and pasting. We watched a video about him and his very neat ideas. He paints pieces of papers then cuts shapes out of them that were patterns and then turned into something magical. He made it look so simple in the movie clip. We had to create a scene from a two-page fold from a book. I included my favorite quote that I live by day by day which is "All the strength you need is right there inside you." There is a momma bug and a little baby bug that is falling off the leaf. I meant for it to portray that fact that the baby bug is falling off. He needs to find internal strength to pull himself up, so he doesn't fall off the leaf. I really enjoyed this project, because I liked the paint that we used. It had to do with wall paper glue and paint. It was fun to work with and to use the different textures like a sponge. I used the sponge for the texture for my leaves.


For an extension activity, I would have students do the same thing that we did. I really liked this activity for students. I would let them choose a scene from a book they knew or a new design. The only thing that I might change would be have them create a book over the course of a few months. They could continue to add to their project to make a book out of it. If they didn't want to create a book, then they could create book covers or journal bindings with the paint. The paint would create really neat covers for books and journal bindings. They would just have to show creativity and expression through out the use of the paint. They would also have to use construction paper or other painted paper for differences. It would add more design to the pictures.

Project #3 - Fingerpainting



This is my fingerpainting that I have entitled "Chillin' in the Breeze". We learned about Vincent Van Gogh and his different styles of using lines to show movement. Van Gogh was very well known for his impact with emotions and displays of feelings. We then took a look at "Starry Night" and we could either replicate it or create our own picture. The only limitations we need was to have a foreground, background, and middle ground. I decided to do a beach scene, because I was in the mood for some warm weather after having a lot of cold days and snow. Winter was becoming such a mood breaker. In this finger painting, I used lines like Van Gogh to show movement in the sky, wind, and in the water for the waves. I also used a little bit of movement in the sand for the beach area. The toes were also the tips of my fingers, along with movement in the feet.


For an extension activity, I would have students learn about Vincent Van Gogh and his styles of his art and portraits. I really enjoyed the way that Van Gogh used himself in a lot of his paintings. I would have the students paint self - portraits. They would have to use lines and show a lot of feelings and emotions like Van Gogh did in his paintings. They would have to use the whole sheet of paper and use the mid -torso and up in the painting. They could use the option of using their paintbrushes if they wanted, otherwise they could use their fingers too. They could even use both fingers and paintbrushes if they wanted. They could experiment with their control and different painting styles then. It would be interesting to see what types of detail and thoughts that the students would come up with. :)