Passacaliga (8-Expanding)

This was a collaborative piece based on another artists methods.  It is a great lesson math integration lesson.  We started with grid paper and marked points (everyone had a different point) then we each had the same series of instruction on how much to move the point based on the previous point.  In the end we put all of our works together and they coordinated with one another.  We built upon this same pattern even more to make a work of our own.

Gesture Drawing

When I think of a gesture drawing I think of lose long curvalinear lines repeated as if to search for the actual space of a person or object. The realism is not so important as the search and expression of the lines to find the space.   Although I could have done this better, I tried to communicate that in these pieces here.

Contour Line Drawing

I apologize that the image is a bit hard to read but hopefully you get the idea.  By wiki's definition a contour drawing, is an artistic technique used in the field of art in which the artist sketches the contour of a subject by drawing lines that result in a drawing that is essentially an outline; the French word contour meaning, “outline.” I tried to capture the essence of the tree by focusing on the lines and movement.  Especially for the leaves I was more focused on my eyes following the path of the leaves and getting my hand to follow my eye rather than getting my eye to follow my hand.

Color Study

The first image you see was created to a series of music.  There only real objective was to listen and respond to what we where hearing.  I started with the black marks.  Some were made slow, but most were made really fast as this was how the music was.  I then came in with the white and started to splatter the paint.  I was thinking of Jackson Pollock as I did it.

The objective of this image was to explore how many shades of light and dark you could get out of one color with black and white.  Then we started exploring what more colors we could get using the compliment of the first color which in my case is orange.  I was thinking of the fall leaves as I painted mine. 

 

Batik Tutorial

Here is a step by step process of my batik. To start you will need a square of muslin or 100% cotton.  If you have pinking sheers cut along the edges so that they won't fray. You will also need a white piece of paper to draw designs and a concoction to substitute wax.  Mix 1 cup flour, 1 cup water, and 1 tsp alum (it's used to make pickles) and put it in a bottle with a skinny top so the kids can draw with it. *Note this won't work without the alum.

Step 1: Trace fabric onto paper so you know how big to draw your design.  Once you draw your design in pencil go over it in sharpie. 

Step 2: Put fabric over the drawing and trace it with the flour concoction, let dry.

Step 3: Once the flour paste is dry paint with tempura.  *It has to be permanent Tempura

*Note only the first layer of paint will stay in the end.  Make sure you use the initial color you put down is the one you want to show in the end.

It will probably bleed through the fabric a little so make sure you are doing it on a piece of paper.

Step 4: Finish painting and let dry completely

Step 5: Once your fabric is completely dry (not cold) you can start peeling of the flour paste.

Step 6: Once you have all the paste off wash out all the excess paint

Lay it out to dry and you are finished!  Notice that the colors in the bottom right hand corner changed.  This is because I started painting it yellow first and then changed it to a reddish brown.  I discovered that whatever color you put down first is what soaks into the fabric and everything else gets washed away. As you can see, anywhere the flour paste was is now the color of the fabric.  The flour paste acts as a resist to the paint. 

I included this photo at the bottom just to show you the difference between before and after you wash it and the color change that occurred in mine.

Overall I am happy with the result.  Most people do a pattern design, but I had a lot of fun doing a landscape.  I paint giraffes in my personal work and wanted to continue the theme here.

You can find another tutorial example at  http://theartofkids.blogspot.com/ 

Practicum Student Exhibition- Matisse Lesson

  

Henri Matisse was a French painter who became very famous for using extraordinarily bold colors. Later in life, as his health began to fail, Matisse turned to making collages. His last and most important works were a collection of mixed-media collages. Matisse arranged boldly colored paper cutouts into striking compositions, and added text in his own handwriting to produce a book that has been referred to as "the visual counterpart of jazz music”.
 
I created an elementary (3rd grade) lesson plan influenced by this period of Matisse work.  My objectives and standards were as follows

Objectives:

1. Students will speculate about the process Matisse uses to create his paper cut outs.
2. Students will learn and apply knowledge of positive and negative space.
3. Students will experiment with forms, media, and art making approaches to create unique and interesting compositions. (organization)

National Arts Standards addressed:

Anchor Standard 7: Perceive and analyze artistic work

Anchor Standard 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.

My students took all their work home and all i have left are the pictures so I decided to showcase them in a slideshow presentation!
 
Click below to see my slideshow of my practicum students work!  Don't mind the music.  I didn't want to have to pay to use my own. 

Henry Matisse Practicum Slideshow

Pinch Pots

We learned to make pinch pots and then were assigned to make them our own using air dry clay.  I was thinking of marine life and sea shells as I created mine.  I created the simple organic shape by pressing my hands inward- the edges on the outside created by my fingers.  I added the barnacles to the outside.  I was very happy with the shape, but wish I had approached the surface (paint) differently.

Find the full tutorial at http://myartisticodyssey.blogspot.com/

Wire Sculptures

As a class we created a circus using wire.  As I was making the seal (the bottom image), my favorite of the two, I tried to come up with a way to portray a seal using the minimum amount of lines possible and am quite happy with the minimal effect.  

http://alexaraemears.blogspot.com/ (Links to an external site.)

Rhythm Sculpture

Although the assignment was to create something non objectual, I wanted to create and abstract forest.  The created smaller trees in the background to create distance and a larger tree coming forward.  I only did one to create emphasis and as not to cover the rest of the picture.  I used the repetition of wood sticks and green leaves to create rhythm. 

Internal Texture- Food Inspired Watercolor techniques

We practiced watercolor techniques with a twist.  We ate food and then practiced painting non objectual things inspired by the food taste and texture.  I started with a cracker (yellow circular shape in top left hand corner) using salt for the texture and turned it into a long cucumber.  I made brownies (top right hand corner and bottom left corner) using the wet and wet technique and used rubbing alcohol to take the color out and add the sprinkles.  I then added tiny squiggles on the outside, to make it appear almost as if you were looking at a germ under a microscope.

For the full tutorial go to http://TayleeMorgan.blogspot.com

Georgia o Keif

We appropriated Georgia o' Kiefs work by drawing contour lines from flowers.  I abandoned the local color of the flower and played with a lot of watercolor techniques here.  For the background I did a wash and put salt in it and for the flower I used a lot of wet in wet technique. 

Find the full tutorial at http://silvermagpieart.blogspot.com/
or http://kidartintheclassroom.blogspot.com/

Weaving

We learned the warp and the weft and then practiced weaving.  We started with a foam plate and cut marks every half inch to put the initial thread into then proceeded to weave.  When I was making mine I was thinking of a Hawaiian mat for sitting in the sand. 

Chinese Brush Painting

The first painting of bamboo is the best representation of the assignment.  We learned to do each of the three strokes used in the painting.  We learned the proper way to hold the brush vertically and to  mix our own ink.  With the other two I looked up Chinese brush painting and tried to mimic and appropriate.

Find the full tutorial at  http://saigemillsap.blogspot.com/p/chinese-brush-
painting.html

African Mask

We learned about African masks and then created our own using milk jugs or in my case a 2 liter bottle.  We cut out the plastic and covered it in masking tape, then colored it with shoe polish.  I put brown down for my base then put black over top.  The top was hole punched for the hair to tie into.  Then painted with acrylic paint.  I was influenced by the long and skinny faces of some of the masks so tried to imitate that in my mask.

For the full tutorial go to http://artforchildrenisfun.blogspot.com/

Aboriginal Art Symbols

This is my recreation of aboriginal art with symbols describing my day to day experience.  I wanted the symbols to be natural and non-iconic so I used my finger to draw the symbols. When I think of aboriginal art I think of natural materials and open honest work so I wanted my process to match that. I feel that the experience I had and the concept was more important than the final product in this piece.    I added the dots as an attribute of aboriginal art.

Find the full tutorial at http://iwanttoteachartinelementary.blogspot.com/

Alien Name Landscape

This is an alien landscape.  The alien was created by folding a piece of construction paper in half and  writing my name in cursive along the bottom line, then cutting it out and opening it up.  I decided that big hair was valued as beauty in this scape.  I was influenced by Dr. Seuss trees and wanted the hair of the alien to match the trees. 

Find the full tutorial at http://coloroutsidethelimits.blogspot.com/

Non Objective Square

The only criteria for this assignment was to create a line from one diagonal to the other.  I wanted to create the idea and illusion of a line (an implied line) without actually drawing a line.  I used paint splatters in watercolor to accomplish this.

Find the full tutorial at http://artlessonsforteaching.blogspot.com/

Mandala

This is a Mandala symbolic of my life. I choose the african theme because I painted these animals all  summer in my own artwork.  The giraffe is the focal point because it is my favorite animal to paint.  The figures are very whimsical and stylized and the coloring is a bit choppy as I was trying to embrace an elementary attitude and overall look to this work.  The outline is done in sharpie marker and the coloring is colored pencil.

For the full tutorial go to http://freshtotheideaofart.blogspot.com/
 (Links to an external site.)