Fall Trees- Foil Painting!

 The kindergarten at CES painted these beautiful trees using a common household item...FOIL!

Each student received a piece of foil and crumpled it into a ball. Then, they dipped the foil in paint and began painting their fall leaves.

The foil gave the painting great texture and made the leaves look "crunchy".

Keep Creating!

-Mrs. Hartford

Van Gogh Flower Vases

Kindergarten learned about the famous artist Vincent Van Gogh. We looked at his paintings and noticed how you could see his brushstrokes and it looks like his paintings are filled with lines.

We read the book "Van Gogh and the Sunflowers" by Laurence Anholt and we watched Mati and Dada- Vincent Van Gogh (YouTube).

We looked at many Van Gogh paintings and then started on our own sunflower creations!

The students decorated their vases and drew a table on their background paper. 

They then began adding little tissue paper balls to make 3D sunflowers!

These are the projects from my begindergarten class.

They are wonderful!

Op Art

4th and 5th grade learned about Op Art (optical illusion art). We learned that it messes with your eyes and can make things look three-dimensional or in motion that really are not.

The students created their own op art drawings, outlined them with Sharpie, and then shaded them with colored pencils. They learned how to add shadings of different values to help make their work look three dimensional.

When choosing colors to use, the students learned about Complementary colors and shaded each "tube" with complementary colors (colors that are opposite on the color wheel).

The students had a lot of fun with this project and their results are amazing!

Georgia O'Keeffe Flowers

We started by reading a book about Georgia O'keeffe and how she loved to draw and paint things in nature. When Georgia O'Keeffe paints flowers she makes them HUGE and extends the painting off the caves.

To start the project, the students drew flowers on black construction paper and then outlined their designs with GLUE!

Once the glue dries it provides a crisp black outline for our chalk coloring. The chalk pastels resist wherever the glue has dried. 

In preparation for this project, the students made color wheels using chalk and learned how well the chalks blend together. 

They had a blast using the chalk pastels to mix their own colors for their flowers!

Here are some of their finished flowers! 

I love how each flower is so unique and COLORFUL!

Texture Rubbings

Okay, who doesn't remember doing texture rubbings when they were younger! 

It's such a fun way to experiment with textures.

Here are some pictures of the kindergarteners going around the room to find different textures.

The older students talked about the difference between actual and visual texture. 

They also used texture rubbing plates of different leaves and insects to create their art!

The students LOVED watching their image appear out of nowhere! ;)

Keep Creating!

-Mrs. Hartford

Symmetry Pumpkins

This was a quick, one day project that the students (and I) thoroughly enjoyed!

These Jack-o-Lanterns were a great exercise on symmetry and were the perfect project to help us celebrate (FINALLY) having some fall weather. :)

Kandinsky Trees

1st Grade made these abstract Kandinsky Trees!

I wish I would have taken pictures of the process, but regardless, the end results were worth posting!

First, we looked at the abstract art Kandinsky made using only circles (it was no coincidence we were learning about this on International Dot Day!)

The students traced their hands for the trunk of the tree, then cut circles out on construction paper for the top of the tree.

Keep Creating!

-Mrs. Hartford

Heather Galler Landscapes

We spent some time studying the artist Heather Galler. We talked about how she uses tons of patterns and unrealistic colors to make abstract landscapes. Below is an example of her work. Stunning!

The students drew their landscapes and then began filling them with patterns. They divided the bottom of their landscapes into 7 sections and filled each with a different design.

The students then used markers to give their landscapes bright colors- just like Heather Galler!

The colors and patterns make these landscapes so much fun! 

Keep Creating!

-Mrs. Hartford