2nd Grade Midnight Owls!

This is the closest I'll get to Halloween themed art in my art classes- Pumpkins, fall leaves, and shadowy owls! I wasn't sure how little second graders would handle value & shading a glowing moon effect, but as you can see they turned out amazing! 

First, after covering the tables with newspaper, I gave them some dark grey pastel paper I had ordered for the big kids. We took blue chalk and outlined a masking tape roll in the center of our paper. Then, I demonstrated how to use the side of the blue chalk to lightly shade around the moon circle and smear to fill the paper edges. (Remind them not to blow the chalk dust, but rather walk it to the trash can and tap the back of their papers gently). Next I gave them white acrylic paint and sponge brushes and let them paint inside the moon-it's ok if it's not perfect here. After handing them a wipe to clean their hands, they use that very wipe to gently smear rings around the moon, allowing the white paint to blend Into the blue chalk, creating that awesome moon glow in the sky. I tell them not to overdo it so they don't remover the chalk! It's important to touch the edges of the moon when smearing to pull the paint into the blue to blend.

Finally, quiet tables  received black paint and painted a bumpy diagonal line across bottom for their owl to sit on. They are allowed to add a few more small ones with a skinny brush. Fort the owl, we simply drew a nice cream cone-a "V" with a bump on top, fill it in black and add pointy triangle ears. If there was extra space they added a couple more baby owls. Voila!!!

Next week we will add gold slanty eyes using metallic acrylic paint....

Batik Pumpkins

Hello October! The month of the amazing pumpkin. One of my favorite go-to autumn lessons is the batik, or crayon resist pumpkin lesson! I tried it with kindergarten this week, and here are the basic steps. Use a strong tag board-preferably white-but I've gone dark as well. Use fat chalks to draw the contour lines of a "bumpy pumpkin" I have them draw a tall oval in the middle of the page, then long "C" curves on the left and right to add the bumps.

 If needed, they add more bumps until the pumpkin is round enough, and draw a line on either side to show it sitting on a able top (and break up the space).  

NOW is time for oil crayons. I reiterate they must not touch the chalk lines, but to color brightly and solidly in the spaces only. We then paint black tempera allll over he picture (adding a drop of liquid soap to the paint-makes it wipe off easier) and begin handing out wipes for wiping  away the paint. (I have my delicious GoJo soap ready for the end of class-they love it)

 I explain that in a fight, the paint beats the chalk, but the oil crayon resists, or beats the paint! (Or discuss oil vs water) here's how they turned out...

Owls & James Audubon

8th grade is doing an incredible job on their realistic oil crayon owls. They were asked to select an owl photo from the Internet and crop it to just the eyes, studying the values and textures with detail. We used our iPads as photo references as we drew largely, filling our compositions and layering our color by blending. Here are just a few that finished early!

Our homework assignment is to research the artist/naturalist James Audubon and fill an Index card with facts about his life studies and accomplishments.