candy crush

Here is a new drawing assignment for 7th grade.  I was inspired by a student who said that Halloween was the celebration of candy.  I thought, "Yeah, that sounds about right!" as visions of pop art candy closeups danced in my head! 

Students took several closeup photos of various candies in wrappers using the square mode of their camera on their iPads. They then used the crop feature in their gallery to further enhance their composition, angling the candy and zooming in even more.

Students enlarged their image to a 12 by 12 black paper.

Using colored pencils, students recreated the candie's signature look, especially trying to copy the fonts of the label correctly.

In addition to working with colored pencil pressure to create color value variations, we also layered white colored pencil on top of or under the colors to get the look of the plastic wrapper with highlights.  Students then created an interesting background effect to complete their composition.

It was great to see how lifelike these turned out to be!!!

fall fun

Margaret Storer-Roche

Here is another attempt at using my Pinterest ideas...the above sample inspired a fun fall sharpie and "watercolor markering" project for 7th grade.

We started by learning how to draw a simple pumpkin.

Students chose whether to put their pumpkin in the middle
or the bottom left or right of their 12 by 12 page.  

We then divided the rest of the page into 8 sections.

We had fun drawing in the various symbols of fall, outlining with black sharpie and marker, then using a wet brush to move the marker color around.  

The "watercolor markering" was way easier to control than traditional watercolor, and even created a bit of a shading effect.  I just love how these turned out!!!

Thanks to Margaret Storer-Roche for the great idea!!!

a tree full of techniques

Patchwork Tree by mydarkenedeyes on tumblr.com

Recently, I have been making an attempt to use some of the ideas that are gathering on my Pinterest account...The above sample inspired a fun fall tree of "markering" and shading techniques for 7th grade.

We started by separating the page into 12 sections.

This grid made it easy to place the tree trunk, limbs, roots, and land lines.

Then we added techniques used for a few of our projects this semester.  

These included shading, hatching, cross hatching, checkerboard, textures, etc.

We also included a few new techniques including 

words, tie dye, plaid, spirals, splotches, etc.

It was neat to see these as they were developing square by square and then to see the final results, looking like a patchwork of learning awesomeness!!!

Mosaic Tessellations

This fall, in an attempt to keep motivating (both students and myself!), there has been a bit of "newness" and experimentation with some of the assignments in the art room.  Mixing the ideas of Tessellations and Mosaics is just one of these new ideas.

These start out the same as a Tessellation assignment, but instead of creating only one creature and coloring them in two different color ways for a checkerboard, students created many different creatures out of the same motif shape and varied the colors.

You can turn the pages in any direction and see new and interesting pictures.  Students also worked on their shading and blending techniques with colored pencils.

I think these turned out pretty fun.  Stay tuned for more fun and exciting new Middle School Art projects to come!

PS...you can find simple Tessellations and Mosaics here.

Day of the Dead

Day(s) of the Dead celebrations were held over the weekend.  Mrs. O'Leary's celebrates every year by having a display or alter (above) dedicated to this.  I thought it needed some "ms art" art so...

Artful Illusions stamped images over dictionary page with
 Graphic 45 paper embellishment and colored pencils.

Somewhat symmetrical collaged stamped images
with Stickles embellishment and glitter paper.

Large tag, pattern stamped, letters cut and added, colored pencil.

Large tag, somewhat symmetrically stamped,
colored pencil and Stickles embellishment.

All the goodies...
to make your own alter, sugar skulls, and decor!