Watercolor Fish

Fish and underwater artworks are some of my favorite projects to do with my kids. This was an interesting switch from the usual fish projects I do. We began by creating a word painting- I let the students choose one word to write repeatedly in the background. We drew lines with a ruler and wrote the word over and over again in crayon. Once finished, the students painted over the paper with a black watercolor. During the second class, students drew a large fish in pencil. We looked at different types of fish talked about the various details we saw like fins, scales, tales, etc. I let students choose whether to copy certain fish or create their own. These were then outlined with crayon and painted with vibrant watercolor paints. The final class we cut out and pasted the fish onto the word painting, made 3D seaweed cutouts, and stamped some blue bubbles into the background. The result is a fun and whimsical twist on a old classic!

Elephants of India

PreK and Kinder created these wonderful watercolor elephants! We began by doing a step-by-step drawing on an elephant. After we were finished, the students outlined with black or grey crayons and added details like wrinkles and toes. I had the students add a sunlike design to the head and back to give it an Indian flavor. The final step was painting them in with the watercolors. The results were an adorable twist on an animal portrait and they all look so cute!

Greek Pottery

Students in 4th through 6th grades studied the geometric period of Greek art ranging from 900 to 700 BC. Students began by creating a textured watercolor painting and cutting it into a symmetrical vase shape. On the vase, students used different types of cardboard to print and create geometric patterns. The final step was to create a geometric border using different colored papers. This was a great project to connect art history, culture and design. I also liked this lesson because it gets the students to examine different styles and shapes of vases so they have some information to draw upon when they create their own ceramic pieces.

Geometric to Organic

The International Academy students continued their exploration of the elements of art with this lesson on shapes. We began by creating large geometric shapes like squares, circles, triangles and rectangles. These shapes were then colored in with markers. Next, we dropped or splashed water onto the shapes to loosen the ink and alter the edges to convert the shapes from geometric to organic. The splashes were then outlined in black permanent marker. This was as a fun quick lesson to introduce different types of shapes and transformation in art. 

Color Scheme Designs

International Academy students completed these vibrant color scheme designs. We began by creating a design on a small piece of paper and then transferring it to create a large symmetrical layout. Students then broke up the space by using 3 of the following color schemes: complementary, analogous, warm, cool, primary and secondary. This project is a great introductory lesson to color theory and 2D design!

Chuck Close Inspired Portraits

Here is the latest round of Chuck Close style portraits done in oil pastel by the 7th and 8th grade International Academy students! We drew out a grid over photographs of the students and then created a larger scale grid over a 12" x 18" paper. After students transferred the information to complete a proportional drawing, we used our knowledge of value to shade with oil pastels. The background patterns were made with the complementary color clash to make the portraits really pop!