Oil Pastel Self Portraits

For our second project in 8th grade we are working on oil pastel self portraits. I am having them use the 12 x 18 paper. They feel overwhelmed, some of them. But I am trying to get them to let go of the "I can't do that" and just TRY!!!! So, I took pictures of their faces close up. Then I used photoshop to desaturate and turn up the contrast. Then we looked at SouthColonie Central High School Art Gallery's of portraits by drawing and painting classes.

Van Gogh Style Landscapes

In eighth grade we took a look at van Gogh's landscapes. We discussed his style of painting. Students researched his landscapes on the internet and chose one to recreate, but with colored pencils. They needed to try to use his short brush stroke style using only colored pencils.

Next, we went outside and drew our beautiful landscape with the awesome fall leaves on the trees and drew what we saw. We tried to draw what we saw, not what we know. This is a very difficult concept for my artists to try to work around. We "know" what trees look like, so we try to draw them this way, instead of drawing what we see in front of us.

So, they drew the landscape then, using van Gogh's short brush strokes, colored their landscapes this time with oil pastel.
Here are a few of the beauties!

6th Grade Jim Dine

For the 6th grade Jim Dine projects, we used multiple mediums. First the students watercolored a heart on large white paper. After they finished painting, while still wet, they crumpled up their papers, unfolded and flattened to dry. Next they glued these onto a larger paper. They used newspaper to collage a block on the bottem, and used colored tissue paper for some sort of "Love" or Valentine's word, they glued to the newspaper. After this was finished, they used oil pastels to add the finishing touches to the entire project. I think they turned out pretty good!

3rd Grade Jim Dine Hearts

For the month of February, grades k-6 looked at the artwork of Jim Dine. They noticed his large variety of heart paintings. Each grade took a different spin on his work and were inspired to create their own "Jim Dine" hearts. The third grade used oil pastels to create their own heart. I found this project on Pinterest. However, when I click on the link for it's source, it takes me to the blog titled "What's Happening in the Artroom??" and it IS a Jim Dine project, but different from the image on Pinterest.  Both work great for inspiration for Jim Dine projects! Thank you for posting, so I can steal ideas!!! Yay!

4th Grade Fall Owls

So, I'm addicted to Pinterest. I have been sooo inspired by Pinterest, and the many art/art teachers pinning. I found this Owl on Pinterest. I didn't link back to see where it came from when we did this project. However, posting it here, I felt it necessary. WOW!!! I wish I checked this out earlier. The site is called easely amused. It advertises painting lessons. I soooo want to go paint here, it would be too far to drive though, states away. I wish we had a place here like this. You pick a class/night, and you pay someone to lead you through painting your masterpiece. And how beautiful the paintings are!!!! And reasonable, I would think the canvas would cost this much, let alone paint, and instruction on how to paint. Wow!!! Very cool! Check it out.
So, for our owls, the students used orange construction paper to construct their birds. Next they used oil pastels to color/fill in their owls. I think they turned out great.