Japanese Koi Fish Watercolor Paintings

Art 8 students began a unit on watercolor painting. After practicing basic watercolor techniques, we researched images of Japanese Koi fish to paint. The finished painting were hung next to the school's large new aquarium which had been recently installed in the school lobby.

Creative Color Wheels

Students in Art 6 worked in small groups to mix paint colors for a 12 section color wheel. First, they had to mix each color on a 4x6" index card. Once dry, they had to cut a shape out of each index card. These 12 painted shapes would be used to glue down to create their painted paper color wheels.

Abstract Picasso Inspired Portraits

After completing several classes working on their self-portrait pencil drawings, I wanted to give my 7th grade art students a little more freedom to express their creativity. We read an article about Cubism and the abstract portraits of Pablo Picasso. Then, they viewed and interpreted two of his most famous works, "Weeping Woman" and "The Kiss." They wrote down their thoughts on "Post-it" notes before sharing them with the class.

Students were then given the creative challenge to draw an abstract portrait in the style of Picasso using black paper and oil pastels. I gave them just a few instructions on including a profile within the frontal view and to try to break the face up into geometric Cubism-style shapes. The rest was up to them. It was interesting to see that some students had difficulty deciding what and where to position the facial features after so many days learning how to accurately draw their self portraits. After the first class, however, they really began to show their talent as modern masters of portraiture.

Painting Value Scales

My 6 grade art students are practicing color mixing and painting value scales. First, they learned how to mix tints and shades and then they tried mixing secondary and tertiary colors using tempera paint. I think they were amazed by the variety of tints and shades that could be created by adding white or black to a color. Most students enjoyed the challenge of mixing just the right color and trying not to contaminate their primary colors.

Self-Portrait Student Critique

At the end of our lesson on drawing the face, Art 7 students had a peer-to-peer critique of their self portraits. Students volunteered to critique a drawing which they thought was successful. I like to use the PQP critique process which means make a POSITIVE comment about the artwork; Ask a QUESTION of the artist about the artwork; and tell what you think the artist could have done to POLISH or improve upon the artwork even more.