Chalk Pastel Landscapes

Last year it was 2-point perspective cityscapes and I'm not quite sure what has gotten into me this year. Our friend on campus downloaded a ton of Bob Ross episodes so I'm going to blame him for this. If you don't know who Bob Ross and his happy little squirrels are, consider yourself lucky or deprived.

The objectives for the students were to experiment with a complimentary colors scheme when shading (though some didn't do this) and mixing colors by adding one over the other to create a sense of heaviness. You might notice chalk lines on several of the pieces. The drawings are huge 19 x 25 inches so it created a nice little dust storm in the room.    

George

Noha

Zeina

Farida

Laila

Antarah

Yassin

Sarah

Farah

Assem

Abdel Rahman

Chris

Mena

Landscape painting Grade 8

Last year we worked on the idea of one-point perspectives learning about fore, middle, and background. I also used students on our school's field to demonstrate the concept of "that which is closer appears larger." Although this landscape painting project hints a little at some of the material we previously covered, the major objective(s) this lesson was to learn mixing colors and rendering objects (mountains, trees, etc). As always students have a free choice on what sort of landscape they wish to create. Below are samples of the evidence.

Molas (Grade 7)-a paper cutting project

It was in December of 1995 when I landed my first official teaching gig, granted it was only a 40% semester-long slot for a teacher cutting back her hours to finish a master’s program. I had big shoes to fill, not only was she a popular teacher but the quality of her student's work was top notch. It was a good starting point and I welcomed the competition. Now some of you might be asking "competition?" Let me illustrate, I believe that humans are naturally competitive and to have an experienced teacher in your presence will inspire you to be a better teacher and in the end it benefits the students. I understand and accept that I can always grow and become a better teacher, but being the only Art teacher at a school and the lack of professional development and/or meetings with other art teachers is like living in a vacuum. This is one of the reasons why art blogs are great; it promotes the idea of sharing.

This approach to making molas is borrowed from Ms. Jill Gartland during my six-month stint at the long-gone Baseline Middle School in Boulder, CO. I like doing this project every couple of years with middle school.

Supplies: construction paper, x-acto knives, cutting boards, white color pencil, paperclips, pencils, rulers, and paper.

Vocabulary: mola, layers, bridges, boarders, outline, negative/positive space, cutting, overlapping, lines, warm/cool colors, and shape.

Step 1: Use pencil and paper to design outline of an animals (lines can be used as a bridge to connect the animal to the border).

Step 2: Transfer rough draft idea to the top layer of the construction paper. IMPORTANT-the student should only draw on one side of the paper even if they make an error.

Step 3: Once the outline and bridges have been established, the student will use an x-acto knife to cut away the negative space.

Step 4: Place the paper with the outline and bridges on a different color paper and draw different shapes or even multiple shapes within the large negative space. Cut those shapes out.

Step 5: Repeat step 4 for 4-5 more layers of paper. The final sheet should not be cut.

Step 6: Flip the papers over so that the sides with the pencil are not showing and glue the papers together.

Working on their second layers.

Removing shapes to create negative space.

Making shapes to cut.

Getting detailed.

Hanya's

Farida A's

Andrea's

Kawthar's

Naman's

Ahmed's

Shady's

High School Beginning Art Linocuts

In keeping with the theme of linocuts, I had my other Art classes do 4-6 color reduction prints (to see process read the previous blog. This post is dedicated only to showing some results-more to follow.  

Farida's

Zeina's 

Abdo's 

George's 

Antarah's

Block Reduction Printmaking with Grade 8

The first time I ever used a gouge was in third grade in Mrs. Hargrovers Art class. I quickly learned the dangers of the tool when the tip accidentally went into my finger and subsequently taken to the nurse by Mrs. H. Aside from the little mishap I became a fan of printmaking from that day forward. This is why I keep iodine, bandaids, and cotton handy during this project.


As Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is just around the corner I figured it is time to bust out the softkut blocks and gouges and share a little bit on what goes on in Mexico in addition to how other cultures remember the passings of their loved ones and ancestors. We looked at some José Guadalupe Posada and Artemio Rodriguez prints in addition to images and a chat about the celebrations.

Posada

Posada

Rodriguez

Rodriguez

Some students don't feel comfortable drawing skulls so they have an option of making a face.
Supplies: paper, gouge, softcut blocks, ink, brayer, sheet of glass, and pencil
Vocabulary: Reduction print, brayer, ink plate, gouge, block/plate, edition, pulling, inking, and baren 

Step one: design an image on paper with pencil. 

Step two: transfer image to a softku block. 

Step three: use gouge to remove the "white" areas. 

Step four: print background color with a light color.

Background color results.

Step five: use gouge to remove the background.

Step six: print dark color over background image.

Pulling a print.

Final outcomes:
well registered print (left)
off-registered print (center)
over-inked print (right)

Step seven: sign and number prints with pencil.

Here's Johnny....

Printing the first color

Using a brayer to roll-on the ink.

Final prints.

Sherif's

Farida's

Amna's

Vighnesh's

Tamara's

Aly's

Ahmed M.'s

Ahmed's