Kindergarten Project: Eric Carle - Animals

The Kindergarten students continued their study of Eric Carle.  They did this by enjoying another of his stories and reviewing what he kind of techniques and ideas he liked to use in his art.  We then chose an animal to draw.  

Then using our "Painted Paper" from our previous lesson, students cut and then paste to give their animal its

color.  It was a very colorful bunch of animals that emerged from our classes.

Kindergarten Art Project: Painted paper and Eric Carle

We started this project by learning about Eric Carle and watching the story of "The Hungry Caterpillar".

We then began the task of creating the paper we would be using for our entire Eric Carle unit.  Each student had the opportunity to create two painted papers.  They chose their colors as I walked around the room with the different paints.  Once a student chose a color they would proceed to use proper brush technique (which is reviewed before the painting) to spread the paint as they chose.

Once the students had finished their paint work.  They received their secret tool to add their finishing touches to their art.

The students' special tool was an ear swab.  With this they were able to create the line work in the paint as you can see above.

The painted papers we prepared were long and thin, it was trim from another project.  The dimensions were not important since it was going to be cut up.

5th Grade Project: Ocean Impressionism

The 5th grade continued its study of Impressionism by going outside during three different class periods to create an impressionist ocean scene.  The students used crayons to imitate the impressionistic style of many small marks to create a larger image.  At first the idea of an entire ocean scene with no preliminary sketch seemed to intimidate the students, though they quickly relaxed as they saw their work come together.

We focused on light and shadow, and on showing colors accurately.  Students would show the varieties of green in a tree's foliage, or in a patch of grass.  Once this level of observation was made the quality of the work rose quickly, so much so in fact that one of the classes asked to restart the project completely to better show what they saw.

Even using crayons the students were able to imitate the style well, producing very painterly results.  We will move on further into Impressionism by using watercolors next.  To be continued...