3rd Grade Non-Objective Paintings Video

3rd Grade Non-Objective Paintings Video

Watch the Video .

3rd Grade: Painting with Tints and Shades

3rd Grade Masks

Third graders are working on their mask projects. We looked at masks from around the world. We discussed how the masks were made by people in oral cultures. These cultures used storytelling, ritual and ceremonies to convey their stories before they had a written language. We reviewed symmetrical balance before painting our mask shapes with black paint. The paint, fold and blot method keeps everything symmetrical.

Students draw in their sketchbooks if they finish a step early. 

Some students paint while others sketch in their sketchbooks.

The next step is to add patterns with oil crayons. Then they cut out the masks and make them 3-D. To finish, they add embellishments with beads, buttons, yarn, raffia and other goodies.

Third Grade Works with Tints and Shades

Third Grade looked at the Blue Period paintings of Pablo Picasso. He used one color to paint these sad paintings. When an artist uses one color and many tints and shades of that color we call it a monochromatic painting. Third Grade learned that mixing white with a color made tints. Tints are lighter values of a color. When you add black you make a shade. Shades are a darker value of a color. 

Students selected a shape and painted that shape with many tints of one color. Then they repeated the shape with many shades of that color. 

Students who used orange or yellow used brown to make shades. Brown paint looks better with these colors than black. 

Some students made many shapes. 

Students adding tints and shades to their backgrounds.

They looked at the non-objective paintings of Sonia and Robert Delaunay. 

When the students' shapes dried, they cut them into pieces and arranged them on a background paper. They chose the same color or a new color to paint the rest of the painting with tints and shades. 

Student Paintings:

More paintings are here on Artsonia. 

2nd Grade Mural with Media Experiments

I can use art media in a variety of ways.

2nd Graders explored art media like scientists. Which ones will smear? Which ones will blend? What happens if you paint over oil crayons? What happens if you paint water over pencil? Over marker? Which media can you use to make secret writing?

Mural on display at Sherman Elementary

We cut media experiments into circles. We mixed them up and glued them onto a colored paper. Looking carefully, we put light next to dark or bright next to dull for an interesting combination. We cut these circles into quarters. We glued them back into whole circles. This was truly a collaborative art project!

5th Grade: Chinese Landscapes or Shan shui (Chinese: 山水 lit. "mountain-water")

For our 5th Grade cultural unit, we learned about the art of a different culture.

Essential questions for this unit include:
"How is traditional Chinese painting different than how we are used to painting?"
"How can I combine brushstrokes to form images from nature?"

Practicing value in different media is a core part of the 5th grade curriculum. Value connects with the Renaissance and realism. Value changes are one way to make a work of art look realistic. The I can statement for this unit was “I can use bamboo brushes and make a landscape using various values of black and gray.”

 First the students practiced four types of brushstrokes: 

1. thin;
2. thin-thick-thin;
3. thick-thin and
4. thin-thick.

Next they looked at landscape elements in Chinese landscape paintings and practiced making them on newsprint.

They watched a video by The Helpful Art Teacher to learn about parts of a Chinese landscape including, the heart, paths and the threshold.

After practicing, they made their good landscape painting using sumi ink on white paper. They framed their pieces to look like an oriental scroll. The final step was to design a chop and carve the design onto a foam block. They used the chop to sign their artwork on the front using red block printing ink.

 

To see more art works from this project visit Artsonia here. Students are taking their own pictures, but class time is short and we run out of time to do them all. If you want to volunteer to take photos for Artsonia, please contact me.

 

Kindergarten: Dots and Kandinsky

In Kindergarten, we are learning to handle different art materials. We read the book,The Dot. We looked at a painting by Wassily Kandinsky. We made dots and circles with oil crayons. We painted with watercolor paint.

See more results here in Artsonia. We will add more to Artsonia as time permits. If you want to volunteer to take photos for Artsonia, please contact me.

1st Grade: Ndebele Inspired Geometric Paintings

We read My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken and Me by Maya Angelou. The Ndebele women from South Africa paint their houses with geometric shapes. They use a chicken feather to paint. First graders painted geometric shapes and lines. Then they added textures by rubbing over bumpy things with oil crayons. Finally they printed patterns over the top. We learned about the art elements of line, shape, color and texture.

See more results here in Artsonia. We will add more to Artsonia as time permits. If you want to volunteer to take photos for Artsonia, please contact me.

Student printing patterns on top of painting.

Students worked in their Art Elements Workbooks when they finished painting for the day.