dot paintings

These are some samples of the dot paintings the 8th graders have completed.  Students choose an animal from the classroom drawing book resourses.  They practice drawing it large on a 9 by12 inch sketch paper, then enlarge it to the 12 by 18 inch black or sand colored paper.  Students choose a color from the small containers of premixed tempera or craft acrylic paint to "dot" the outside edge of their creature with the "wrong" end of a paintbrush.  Then they choose other colors to dot the details and the rest of the body.  After they have filled the body, they are to create a background environment for the animal or a design using shapes and lines until the page is at least 75% filled with dots. 

Artist's Stash Challenge

This month my Altered Artists Group participated in an Artist's Stash Challenge.  Each participant donated some of their stash which was then distributed amongst the group.  These things included charms, beads, papers, buttons, ribbons, etc.  The challenge was to then use at least one of the items in an artwork.  

These two pieces are my results of this year's stash challenge. 

You can see the results of last year's challenge with the

Butterfly House Book in my Butterfly Art post from March. 

artist inspired scratch art

 In order to incorporate more art history into my curriculum, I chose 4 artworks for students to alter into scratch art designs. King Tut's Mask, Edvard Munch's Scream, DaVinci's Mona Lisa, and a self portrait by Vincent VanGogh. 

To create the sketch paper, I cut out the part of the original color sheet I wanted to keep (Dover Publications) or traced the image from a repro- duction.  I enlarged or reduced the design on the copy machine to fit in the correct placement on a 5.5 by 8 inch paper.
















Students choose two of the artworks to either finish the body, sketch in a background environment, and/or create a design.  They then choose their favorite and color the original part with markers or colored pencils.  Students then cut out the original part and use the background to help position and glue the original part in the negative space onto the 5.5 by 8 inch gold scratch art paper. 




After a brief practice with the scratch tools on a scrap, students scratch their designs so that the design is about 50% gold/50% black.  Students then choose a coordinating color to mat the drawing with.

They look awesome on a bulletin board display.... what a variety of design ideas! (apologies for the blurred and flashy pics!)



more eggsellent ideas!

An altered book, carved-out house shape

with added egg, nest, and words.



  

In case you haven't noticed from previous posts,

I love to use bird related ephemera in my work. 

Eggs represent to me not only birds, but birth of ideas. 

Each egg is a possibility of new artwork waiting to be born.

 

An altered cigar box with collections in whites.

   

inside

  

outside front



    

A pocket sized calendar cover for an Altered Artists swap.



 "Stamples" for Mrs. O'Leary's art store.

Charms I made for my Altered Artists group...

house shapes, of course, with dangling "eggs."





 





bird's nest book

This is my bird's nest book I created a few springs ago. 
My friend Jo McQueen taught a class based on inspiration from Nina Bagly
about this type of binding with twigs, eyelets, fabric and old book covers. 
The pages are made from cardstock covered in torn decorative paper. 
We then gathered all of our bird ephemera and embellished away!  
It was super fun to do the layering and collaging with all the great stuff! 

here comes the sun

 Every spring when the sun begins to finally stay out, 8th graders get to create softkut relief prints using a sun motif.  It is always fun to see what ideas they come up with for their drawings.  We talk about creating a mood with their sun and how mood is effected by design elements and the layout of composition. 

Students create two sun designs, one on the front, one on the back, on a 4 by 4 inch plate. Students then carve the design so that is about 50% raised and 50% carved away.  This makes the design more interesting than a simple line drawing. 

 Students then print their suns using black, red or pink, yellow, and turquoise or blue.  They can create a single layer or double layer using one or both designs.  Students are encouraged to experiment with the layering of color, composition and positioning of their plate to see what happens... which is just one of the fun parts of printing!

It is fun to see the prints put together on a bulletin board or printed

on a sheet of colored paper for a quilted look.  Students also alter some

of their prints with crayons, markers, or glitter pens.

 We create a set of Artist Trading Cards from their designs,

changing their compositions to 2.5 by 3.5 inches.  This can be a challenge,

but teaches students how to create a variety of designs from one idea.

Hands on Art



My Tree of Life as inspired by artist Jane LaFazio, using stencils.



 One of my favorite motifs to use with students is tracing

their hands as an element in an artwork.

To me, hands are representative of the self, so students

are able to put a bit of themselves into their artwork. 

Here are just a few ideas using hands as a motif.



This may be what started it all...my friend Suzie created a series of
inspiring hand paintings in college... raise your hand, please!



Trace hand on neon color copy paper, create sections
using lines, zentangle with line patterns.



black and white circle of light mandala

Trace hands from each side/corner so that they overlap in the center,
section off with 4 lines, use 4 colors to shade each section.

It is fun to see what personal symbols students come up with for their designs!

overlapping hands with border, crayons, and watercolor

The shading of white pencil on black paper gives such a powerful effect!



Using neutral or bright colors, it is always fun to see the cubist effects that result!



The variety of compositions created with this assignment are pretty amazing!



An idea from my friend Ruth, finish by zentangling all,
or just the space around the hand...optional, add color.

An idea from a student...trace hand over drawings of personal symbols,
color with markers...I might just have to use this idea!  Thanks M!