Abstract Sailboats

We began this project by learning about abstract art. We learned about Jackson Pollock and how abstract artists usually use color, shapes and/or lines to express a feeling or emotion. We then used crayons, texture plates and watercolor paint in cool colors to create an abstract painting. During the second class, artists learned about American painter Winslow Homer and viewed many of his different seascapes. We then created a blend of warm color paints- from red to orange to yellow to create a sunrise or sunset sky. The abstract painting from the previous week was torn up to create many layers of waves. The final class was used to create sailboats out of corrugated cardboard and white paper. This project was a lot of fun and covered many aspects of the curriculum-warm/cool colors, space and depth, Abstract art, seascapes and texture.

Sea Turtles

Students in PreK and Kinder created these Eric Carle inspired sea turtles. We began by reading A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle and discussing the underwater illustrations. I then showed students how to draw a sea turtle step by step in pencil. Students then outlined the turtle with blue or green crayon and painted them using watercolor paints. After cutting them out, we added seaweed and lines in the background. We talked about what types of lines would imply movement in the water so students could create a moving seascape. 

Rhythm Fish

Students in grades 4-6 created these magnificent fish designs. We began by looking at different examples of fish. Students were free to either draw a fish from observation or create their own fish. I required students to draw them a certain size and to include a certain amount of detail. Once the fish was drawn, we traced it onto the back so it could be transferred repeatedly to a larger paper. Students would then fill the space with repeating fish in any type of layout they wanted. The final step was using colored pencils to the fish. I demonstrated several colored pencil techniques so students could blend or fade the coloring. 

Glitter Fish

Students in grades 1-3 created these fun artworks to learn about seascapes. During the first class, we looked at The Goldfish by Paul Klee. We discussed the use of lines and symbols in his seascape and also how he shows EMPHASIS and MOVEMENT. Students then used cool color crayons to create their oceans- using symbols and lines to show the movement they see in the water. The next class we read the book Pattern Fish and compared the many different patterns in the book. Students looked at pictures of many different types of fish and then drew their own using lines and patterns. We painted the fish with warm colors to create a contrast with the cool colored seascapes and help with emphasizing the fish and making them stand out. The final touch was finger stamping some small fish into the background and adding a little glitter to help the fish stand out. This is a highly effective lesson to teach about warm/cool colors, emphasis, movement and patterns!

Under the Sea

Montessori students in grades 1-3 made these seascapes. We began by drawing a fish and creating original patterns within the body. Students learned that a pattern is created when a line or a shape is repeated. These were then painted with watercolors. The ocean was painted using different values of blue- students learned that value is the lightness or darkness of a color and created their own values by mixing. On the final day, students stamped some smaller fish using their thumbs and cut out some seaweed to complete the seascape.