Marbling

In art class this week we did a project with a marbling technique. We were each given a picture that we had to draw ourselves onto white drawing paper.  My picture was of the Pagoda of Fogong Temple in Shanri, China.  We started with pencil, then went over the pencil with permanent marker so we could see the lines. Next we cut out our drawing.  Over on a different table was the marbling station.  Here, we coated the bottom of  a tin pan with a thin layer of shaving cream.  We then chose three adjacent colors on the color wheel; I chose orange, red, and purple.  I put a few dots of each color on top of the shaving cream, then used a fine point to swirl the colors around until I got the design I was happy with.  Finally, I laid the cutout face down on the shaving cream/color.  When I lifted it up, the marbling stuck to the paper.  I wiped off the extra shaving cream and framed it on an orange piece of paper.

 An extension activity off of this project would be to have the students marble a landmark such as this one and then put a scenery behind it using different techniques we have learning in the past such as drawing or painting.

Puzzle Pieces

With this project we were practicing our drawing with warm and cool colors along with different types of shapes. As a class we made a huge puzzle with each student getting to make a piece of the puzzle. I had to draw a cool colored

animal with organic shapes in the back ground. So I chose to draw a fish. This was a fun activity!

An extension activity for this project could be have them make their own mini puzzle using the same concept only they had to do it on their own and have many different colors and animals in it.

Macrame

In art class this week the 6th graders made macrame keychains. We first learned about the history of the knotting of the hemp string. Our keychain had to be three inches long and have at least 3 beads in it. This is a very fun lesson to do with middle school students.

An extension activity would be to see what else the students could make with the hemp string. Have different requirements besides just the three inches long. 

Blind Drawing

One of the other projects we have done is a blind drawing. This can be used with almost any grade.  We were required to draw three flowers on a piece of drawing paper without looking, using a white crayon. We used warm and cool water colors to paint over the white crayon.  When we did this, the flowers appeared very clearly! 

An extension activity would be studying flowers and where different flowers grow and why.

Bunny Art

One of our recent projects in class was a project dealing with complimentary colors. It was on a first grade level.  My group was assigned blue and orange. We took a piece of white drawing paper and drew thick and thin horizontal lines using blue and then drew vertical lines using orange.  After the paper dried, we traced out pre-cut patterns onto our plaid paper. We then glued it all together to form a bunny. 

An extension activity would be to have the students make a picture of plaid. I would give them magazines to look through and find plaid in them. Then they could either make a collage or a scene made of plaid. 

Going on a Safari!

This project is used to introduce students to warm and cool colors. This project is called a hidden drawing. The picture is hidden, and you need special glasses to see the picture. We made our own glasses from red film and construction paper so we could see the animals. The project is done by drawing a picture in a light cool color, we used the color sky blue. Our theme was a hidden safari, so we all drew pictures of safari animals. We drew over the picture in shapes in a pattern form to hide the drawing with warm colors such as reds, oranges, and yellows. We also wrote three clues to be displayed with our animals for people to guess. 

An extension activity for this class could still be related to the safari theme but have them talk about what they did over the weekend or draw their favorite place and hide it behind the shapes. This way they can talk about what they drew and what is meaningful to them.

Story Collage

This week in class we talked about Eric Carle and how he created his books. We did the projected and mimicked his work. First, we took blank sheets of paper and painted them many different ways to get a swirled look. Next, we sketched out a part of a story that we wanted to create. After that we took our painted sheets and cut out the parts we wanted and made our storybook page. My story collage was inspired by the book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom". It was and still is my favorite story book so I took a page out of that and recreated it with Eric Carle's style.

An extension activity off of this would be to recreate a scene from another book that they are reading at the time whether it has pictures or not. They can use their imagination this way and use their senses to be a part of the story.