Painted Penguins

Hmmmm... I seem to be on a penguin theme this year :) The kids love, them, though and always get so excited to draw and paint them. These second grade penguin paintings are turning out great! We have been talking about depth and overlapping. We learned that depth is the amount of space between the front and the back of the picture. Art is so awesome because even though the piece of paper is flat, we can make it feel like there is great depth (a lot of space) between the front and the back. We talked about how overlapping is a way to show depth. When one object hides another, it's called overlapping. I know that the object I can see all of is in front and the object that is partially hidden is in back. The second graders are doing so well at soaking up these concepts, not to mention being perfect penguin painters! :)

Snow Globe

Third graders have been busy working away on their snow globes. They are turning out beautifully! We learned about foreground, background, overlapping and depth with these projects. Whew! That is a lot of information to cover! The third graders did great, though, and not only learned alot but produced some great art! Nice work!

Paul Klee Castle

We've been done with this project for a while, but thought I'd post one picture cause they turned out so great! First graders learned about the Swiss artist Paul Klee who loved to use geometric shapes in his paintings. We looked at his painting "Castle and the Sun" and then made our own geometric castles. How many geometric shapes can you find?

Petey the Primary Penguin

First graders are learning their primary colors. The primary colors are the most important colors on the color wheel. They are the colors (along with black and white) that are used to make all the other colors! We met a very special friend Petey the Primary Penguin who taught us all about the Primary colors. Thanks, Petey!

2nd Grade Hidden Hands

We have been talking a lot about geometric and free form shapes in second grade. Can you find the geometric and free form shapes in these pictures? How bout our hidden hands?

3rd Grade Intitials

Our Jasper Johns initials are completed and hanging out in the Hallway. Jasper Johns is a great American artist who loves using letters and numbers in his artwork. We used the letters of our initials to make our artwork.

Perfect Pumpkins!

4th Graders are finishing up their pumpkins still lives and boy do they look GOOD!! After adding value with sharpie, the students used water color to paint them. We talked about how important it is to really look at the pumpkins to figure out what colors to use. We noticed that the top of the pumpkin was lighter and more yellow than the darker bottom. We tried very hard to make our pumpkins look realistic. Mixing was greatly encouraged! They worked hard and it shows! I am so proud!

It's MUG-Nificent!

This fall I offered an art class called "It's MUG-Nificent" through Community Education. I had a fabulous time working with 5 students as they created their own clay mug creations! The students first decorated their mugs with clay attachments and added a handle, then the next week we glazed them. The final products are fun mugs that can be used to drink/eat out of and are dishwasher safe. They turned out great and I am proud of my Mug-nificent students! :)

I am also starting a drawing class this Thursday and it's not too late to sign up! Contact Community Education if you are interested!

4th Grade Still Life

Alright, I can't for the life of me figure out how to make this picture turn the right way, so I am just going to live with it for now! Even though the picture is crooked, it doesn't change how I feel about the 4th grader's still life project. My feelings can be summed up in one word: PUMPED!! or maybe PUMP(kin)ED! haha. Anyways, the fourth graders have been working hard on their still lives. Mr. Sherman, a third grade teacher, was wonderful enough to donate a bunch of pumpkins for this project. We set up still lives around the room and the students could choose one to draw. They were then able to add details to the background. All of the drawings are looking great! And my favorite part about the project? The absolute silence in the room because the kids are so involved in their drawings. I love that! Way to go 4th graders! I know the finished product will be incredible!

Being An Art Teacher is the Best! :)

Sometimes my kiddos just make my day :) I love it!

1st Grade Wassily Kandinsky Quilt

The first graders really got into their Kandinsky Quilts! They loved looking at Kandinsky's abstract artwork. It is bright and colorful and full of lots of interesting lines. The first graders composed their own artwork and I am very impressed with what they came up with. These abstract quilt blocks are so well done!

2nd Grade Cities

The second graders worked hard on their collage cities and they turned out so creatively! Each city has its own story and I love listening to the kiddos share their ideas! They get so excited about the happenings in their city and love to add detail!

3rd Grade Fall Trees

These trees are definitely one of my favorite projects! Each students' was unique and beautiful. The third graders did a great job of following my directions as I asked them to draw horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines. They are getting those directional lines down pat! After drawing our trees and making them nice and thick, they painted the background with water color. Watching the students paint their backgrounds was very inspiring! Each student took their time and really concentrated on being a neat and thoughtful painter. Our halls look very festive with these lovely trees!

4th Grade Molas

I love the way these Molas turned out! They are bright and colorful and look amazing! The fourth graders worked so hard to reach their goals of using at least 5 different types of line, lots of layers of paper, thoughful design, and great craftsmanship. Nice work fourth graders!

I'm always so impressed...

The third graders have done a wonderful job working on their fall trees. I love the way each student's project turns out differently! We are emphasizing the element of Line in these pictures. How many different kinds of lines can you see?

First graders just finished up their Wassily Kandinsky quilt pieces. We looked at some of Kandinsky's artwork and found all of the different kinds of lines we could. Being inspired by Wassily, we took black crayons and drew different types of lines on our quilt blocks. Remembering to keep our pieces abstract, we colored our artwork in with bright, vivid colors. Wow, first graders, these look great!

First Projects!

We're starting the year off with gusto here at Big Woods! The kids are all working hard and putting their creative minds in gear. Here are a few pictures of what we've been working on!

Second graders are doing a fabulous job on their collage cities! I am so impressed! We discussed the element of Line together as a class and made sure we knew which lines were vertical, horizontal and diagonal (kind of tricky!). We also talked about exciting lines like zig zag, wavy, and curved lines. They took all of their knowlegde about lines and began to cut out buildings and details for their cities. Nice work! We are going to add more line details later with a thin marker. I'm excited to see the end results!

Fourth Graders are working on a project celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. We are learning about the Kuna people who live on the San Blas Islands off the coast of Panama. The Kuna make beautiful works of art from layers of fabric called Molas. The colors and details are so vibrant and interesting... the kids love talking about them.

We started making our own Molas out of construction paper... I'll be sure and post when they are done! Looking good so far :)

Welcome to the Big Woods Art Blog!

The fall weather is already upon us as we gear up for a new year in the art room! I am excited for sweaters, hot cider, and of course new crayons :) I am hoping this blog will be a place for you to come and check out what we have been up to in the art room here at Big Woods. Feel free to look around and leave comments.

To start it all off, here are a few snapshots of the classroom to get you excited for the new school year that starts in a week exactly!!!