March & April 2024
We learned about Optical Illusion art! I showed the 3rd Graders how to make a drawing of their hand look 3D using markers. There was some frustration when the image didn't look how they wanted to immediately but when I help up the drawing and told them to stand back... Then it finally started to 'pop' off the page!
The next drawing project we did was a One-Point linear perspective drawing that used Pointillism to color. Pointillism is an artform that uses only DOTS. This was a test of patience for most.
February 2024
We started a printmaking project this month using cardboard! I love using cardboard for things like this as it's nice and sturdy and can be peeled for the corrugated texture underneath.
The students asked if they could pick two colors for the prints instead of just one and while it took longer to get through all the students I really love the way the prints turned out with the mixed colors.
We learned about contour lines! Contour line drawings are drawings that are done without picking up your pencil, it is one continuous line with one start point and one end point.
We practiced this technique with a still life observation in our sketchbooks.
The next practice I wanted the students to get used to drawing facial features as our final project is a contour line self portrait. The students paired up and took turns drawing each other using contour lines. Everyone had a lot of fun despite the initial nervousness.
Finally they used a mirror to observe their own face and make a self portrait. For the students who took the exercise seriously the results turned out awesome and I think they even surprised themselves with the ending product.
January 2024
This month we focused heavily on our color wheel project! We tried a few different methods for paint mixing, including covering the tables in plastic and mixing right on the tables. In the end we used some lovely paint palettes that were donated to us over the holiday season and they worked like a charm!
One problem I’ve run into with 3rd grade is the reason why they turn my sinks on to wash their brushes but then just walk away without turning the sink off? I only have this problem with 3rd grade! Maybe it has to do with the sinks in the bathroom that turn off on their own? Does anyone else have this issue at home? Is this something only I’m experiencing?
After the painting is finished students sign up for a spot in line to use either the light box, my windows, or even my door to trace their shape on the back of their painted paper 12 times. I’m pretty sure we greatly confused Mrs. Little when she was out for recess duty and saw about 5 students standing in the window on the back counter because all of a sudden she was paying us a visit! I was in the back of the room with them supervising the entire thing but I’m sure she was very confused seeing it from outside the classroom! I think Mr. Hartling from 5th grade took a photo or two!
December 2023
We finished up painting our clay coil vessels and also wrapped up making our sketchbooks!
Our next project that we’re working on is a color wheel project! I tasked the students to demonstrate their color mixing abilities to make their own creative color wheel. I let the students have some fun by covering the tables in plastic and letting them mix the paint right on the table! I will definitely have to get some thicker plastic so it doesn’t rip but I turned on some music and let it be a chill class.
We definitely need to work on cleaning up after ourselves (aka, not leaving brushes covered in paint out, and wiping up their own messes) but I was very impressed with their work ethics!
November 2023
We started this month on finishing up our watercolor comics, they turned out so great!
Our next project was focused on Claude Monet’s Water Lilies and the Impressionist art style. We read about Monet and learned about his life before and during his time as an artist.
The first step of the project was to create the background for our water lilies. We each got a watercolor paper and a straw (All of them were cleaned beforehand, everyone got a different color at their tables, and we had enough across all three classes that no one had to use the same straw as anyone else. I do value cleanliness in the classroom so don’t worry!)
I mixed bubble solution into containers of water and liquid watercolor and showed the students how to blow bubbles into the watercolor and create a bubbly water look on their papers. This was a very fun few days in art class for the students!
I did get asked every class, "Ms. Penkwitz, what happens if I accidentally suck in instead of blowing out?" And I would reply, "Well it's two completely different motions so unless you want a mouthful of soap..." And I would always get at least one genius that didn't believe me and got a mouthful that I would find washing their mouth out at the sink! (No students were harmed in the making of this art project!)
The students drew out lily pads and water lilies and used tempera paint and oil pastels to color them before gluing and layering them on their papers.
These turned out so amazing that I had to start putting them out in my hallway as soon as possible, I can’t wait to display even more!
We are now starting to finally paint our coil vessels! We broke out the metallic paint and got to work, they are looking amazing so far!
Our next project will be a color wheel project!
October 2023
We had so much fun this month in art class!
We have finally finished our coil projects and I have officially started the kiln firing process with my Kindergarteners and 3rd Graders projects so we are all looking forward to painting our coil vessels very soon! Luckily the kiln was on during our sudden Halloween snowstorm, the art room was nice and warm! They had to make their vessels 6 INCHES TALL! Nice work everyone!
I was lucky enough to have some of your artists on our early release day and we did a fun mini project of chalk marbled paper. This is a fun project you can do at home with some cardstock, a container of water, and sidewalk chalk! The chalk dust floats on the water and then you just dip the paper in! After the paper dries it can be used as normal!
Our 3rd Graders got a little spooky this month with our watercolor and crayon resist spiderwebs! A watercolor resist is when a layer of wax from a crayon or oil pastel is applied to the paper before painting with watercolor. The wax will repel the water (oil and water and all that) and will sit in the areas that aren’t protected and soak into the paper as normal. I finished off by giving each spiderweb a spritz of rubbing alcohol to give it a more resisted look! This also helped to get any watercolor off of the crayon wax.
FINALLY we got to use the watercolor pencils on our comics! The 3rd Graders waited so patiently for them to arrive and I am so impressed with the care they are treating the supplies with. They colored their comics with the pencils as if they were normal colored pencils but then the next class they were able to use a fine detail brush dipped in some water to paint over the pencil, this “melts” the pigment and it acts more like watercolor!
All of us earned a class reward this month. The classes each picked and some decided on free choice art activity and another picked free choice seating for the day!
I can’t wait to share more with you next month!
September 2023
We had sooooo much fun in art class this first month of school and we did so many things that I hope you've gotten to hear about from your artists!
We started this month off by coloring an "About the Artist" sheet and everyone drew a picture of themselves before getting to color in the rest of the worksheet. I hung everyone's up in the hallway!
We started our first long term project, designing and planning our very own comics! I have loved seeing everyone's creative minds during this project. For this project we get to do something super exciting, after we finish outlining everything in sharpie, we will get to use watercolor pencils to color everything! I am so excited to see everything in full color!
Your artists have been extremely patient and understanding with me as we had to put a pause on our comics while we wait for our supplies to be delivered. This gave some of our more detail oriented comic artists a chance to catch up to their friends, no artist left behind!
We will be transitioning to making our very own sketchbooks next! We will see the progress our artists make on those next month!
I am blown away by the creativity and ideas your students have shown me so far, I wanted to highlight an art project that was created by two students that have inspired me to research more about origami and paper folding to teach your students! Great work you two, very beautiful paper flowers, I can't wait to see what else your students have to teach me!
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