The Tree of Life

A project based on one of my favorite paintings ever! The tree of Life by Gustav Klimt. After giving the students a brief history on the artist we looked at his painting and how he creates branches using swirls. We also looked at all the small details (triangles, squares, flowers). Students started by drawing a tree trunk with large swirling branches then added smaller swirls for smaller branches. Day two, they added some details and colored their trees with warm color pencils. Day three, they covered their paper with warm color tissue papers (torn into smaller pieces) and sprayed the whole thing with water. The dye from the tissue paper bled onto their drawings. After drying overnight, the tissue paper was removed to reveal these master pieces! 

Scratch Art Leaves

Each student drew and designed a leaf in their sketchbook using zentangles. When design was approved, they filled in the back of their paper with graphite and transferred it to a small (4"x6") piece of scratch art paper (gold or silver). Using small wooden scratching tools they carefully scratched the black layer of their paper to reveal the metallic color underneath. This was the first time any of the students have used scratch art paper so I was very pleased with the results! Some of them didn't like how long it took to complete the whole process while others were begging me for more.

(Mounted on maroon cardstock for display)

Fall textures

 First and Second Graders drew a tree by using the letter Y and V to make branches. Next, they put leaves underneath their papers for texture and colored on top with fall color crayons.

Before starting these lessons, the students walked with me in a school yard to collect leaves. The following leaves are done by Kindergarteners.

Kindergarten Sunflowers! Students practiced cutting and glueing skills. The seeds were done using acrylic paint and q-tips. 

Warm and cool colors

 Students were given a basic design guideline and instructed to separate warm and cool colors. Some students were very creative in making their design more unique.

Stuart Davis - Name Collage

This project is based on the work of modern artist, Stuart Davis, who often used letters, words, and basic shapes in his paintings. Students were instructed to used only the letters from their first, middle, and last names to fill their page. After using different fonts and colors we took a day to find letters from magazine pages to fill in any extra spaces.

3D Lines - Paper sculpture

A great way to use up scraps of construction paper in a way that is meaningful and fun! Before starting, we took a look at some of Dr. Seuss's buildings and landscapes. We reviewed accordion folds and paper chains, the rest was up to the students' imagination!

Line Type Owls

First and Second graders filled owls with as many types of lines as they could and then colored the rest of the owl to make it unique to them. The children were very proud of the results and excited to see them hanging up on display.