Chris Uphues Inspired Hearts

These fun and colorful works of art were created by the students in grades one through three. We began by learning about street artist Chris Uphues and his eye-catching cartoon heart faces. We began by tracing different shaped hearts and drawing fun cartoon style faces on them. During the next class, students either painted in the hearts with one color or practiced blending two colors together. During the final class, we added some fun painted confetti to the background. Students had a blast drawing these wonderfully expressive faces and blending colors. 

Street Art Hearts

These adorable heart works of art were inspired by James Goldcrown. We began by tracing heart shapes and painting them in different colors of watercolor paint. We then used paper towel rolls in the shapes of hearts to stamp fluorescent colored hearts all over a black piece of construction paper. The final step was to cut out our watercolor hearts and glue them on top of our printed hearts. This is a very easy and fun Valentines Day themed lesson that gives every student an opportunity for success!

Winter Landscapes

In this winter tree inspired project, students studied the art element of color. They reviewed the color families of primary and secondary colors and then learned about the intermediate colors. They learned that intermediate colors are made by mixing one primary and one secondary color together. For example: yellow plus green equals yellow green. Students practiced using watercolors to create all the colors they needed for their painting and learned how to blend them together to make gradual color changes. When they were done with the watercolors they used black paint to carefully add the silhouette of evergreen trees to their painting. Then, since it is a winter inspired painting they splattered paint it snow on their artwork.

Watercolor Shoes

International Academy students continued the year with a different type of self-portrait. We did some detailed contour line drawings of our shoes in class. These drawings were then transferred onto a large paper and then traced over with a sharpie. Students extended the lines of the shoes out into the background and finished it off with some watercolor paint. These paintings are great because they show a great deal of the students personality, both in the style of shoe and the way it was painted.

Fall Pumpkins

This is a great project for teaching watercolor painting, color blending and how to use space in an artwork. We began by doing sketches of pumpkins. I made sure students used contour lines while drawing and focused on details like vines and leaves. Once students were comfortable sketching the pumpkins, they then transferred that drawing onto a large piece of paper. The students had to be very comfortable with the drawing because the large drawing had to be done with black glue. Once the glue was dry, students used oil pastels to create three-dimensional pumpkins. The final step was to paint the background and add a texture.

These paintings were very fun to do and extremely successful! I received many compliments and they made for a great autumn display.

Watercolor Masks of Nepal

International Academy students created these traditional style masks from Nepal. We began by learning about the country of Nepal. We looked at the native people, discussed the religions and languages spoken there, as well as the geography of the country. We saw that seven out of the 10 tallest mountains in the world are in Nepal, including the tallest; Mt. Everest. Students learned the uses of these masks for ceremonies and why they are so fierce and vibrantly colored. Students created sketches of several masks and chose the strongest designed to create a larger version. The masks needed to be drawn and painted symmetrically, have a third eye and sharp pointed teeth, as well as contain some type of color blending.

Catching Fall Leaves

Students in grades PreK and Kinder created these wonderful watercolor paintings. We began by tracing our hands on different colored construction paper. Students chose a color that was close to their own skin tone. We then blended blue and violet paint to create a beautiful sky background. We then did several leaf rubbings and colored them in using warm colors for fall. Students got to do lots of experimenting with blending paints to create these paintings to welcome autumn!

Autumn Leaves and a Van Gogh Sky

This is a great lesson for teaching observational drawing, color contrast, watercolor techniques and art history. And the best part: almost all students succeeded  in creating a beautiful painting! 

I taught this lesson to first through third grades. We began by completing observational drawings of leaves. These were then outlined with a black glue(Elmer's glue mixed with black tempera paint). During the next class, we painted in the leaves with warm colors. I showed students how to blend the watercolor paints to create intermediate colors. For the final class, students learned about Starry Night and created lines in the background that demonstrated movement. We also discussed how cool colors are opposite warm colors on the color wheel and how placing them next to each other creates contrast. 

This is a great seasonal project that introduces so many important design principles in an easy and fun way!

Pattern Name Designs

Students got to create a painting using their names as the design! We began by learning about calligraphy and looking at different styles of lettering and fonts. Students then drew two curvy lines to break the space up on the page. We wrote our names in any style lettering (lower case, upper case, cursive) but every letter needed to touch the top and bottom of the section it was in. I let the students choose which part of their names to include. Once finished drawing it out in pencil, students outlined with black tempera paint and left them to dry. During week two, students added a unique pattern to every separate section of the artwork. I gave students many examples of patterns and let them choose to copy or create their own. I did enforce many DIFFERENT patterns and colors. The final week was spent painting in each section with watercolor paints.