A Shadow Book

The Foggy Foggy Forest by Nick Sharratt is a perfect book to talk about shadows and silhouettes. I wish that I had found it before we were talking about the shadows of Punxsutawney Phil and our Matisse shadow art project from last week!
It has wonderful silhouettes that are printed on translucent paper. It is fun to guess what might be behind the dark images. When you turn the page it reveals what it is in color! I think this book could be a fun read for kids of all ages!

Matisse Shadow

There was a lot of discussion last week about what was happening in Matisse's Icarus so we took another look at it again this week. Some ideas that students had were that the image was dancing, swimming, leaping, doing a cartwheel or floating in space. We talked about the idea that perhaps the image was a shadow of someone.
Today students started by cutting out a shadow image. Next, they used the skills they learned last week to draw a person in the same position as the shadow. After the outline of their person was complete they added background and features to their person to allow the viewer to recognize what activity is happening in the image.
It's wonderful how many ideas came out of one shadow image!

People in Motion

This week we began class by looking at a few of Matisse's works including Icarus. We discussed the possibilities of what the image might be doing. There were many suggestions that it might be dancing, jumping, leaping in the sky with fireworks, and skipping. We talked about how the bent limbs of the image made it look like it was moving. Students began with a sketch, in pencil, by drawing one of the teachers in a pose with bent limbs. They focused mainly on the outline and shape of the body rather than details in the face or hair this time. Next they began a series of three drawings in oil pastel. Each drawing was done by looking at one of the teachers in a different pose. The three together are a wonderful example of drawing people in motion!

Animal Profiles

This week we continued to work on profiles. We looked at several works of art including more Picasso. I brought a bag of small plastic animals for students to draw. Students began by doing a practice sketch of the profile of the animal. (See the elephant and bird above) This was a wonderful exercise! Everyone quietly focused on drawing their sketch. Next they drew the animal on a larger piece of paper. We talked about how to create texture on their animal through drawing techniques. Finally, they completed their work by painting it with watercolor.
They turned out fabulous! Sketching first has really empowered the kids to make their own decisions and experiment with their own style of drawing.

Picasso Profiles

This week we reviewed more of Picasso's work including Woman with Yellow Hair. We began class by discussing the imagery and walking through how to do a profile sketch. The preliminary sketches are outstanding!

This was a new way to draw a person to many students and they all did a wonderful job of trying something different. Next they worked on black or white paper and using oil pastel they drew a profile. Each one has a personality of it's own and would be amazing framed on the wall!

Mr.Picasso Head

We have been studying Picasso this past week and will continue to look at more of his work in the weeks to come. I discovered this fun site to create Picasso portraits online!

Mr. Picasso Head is a site where you ... or your kids can create a portrait in the style of Picasso. It is incredibly fun and I have to say some what hard to stop creating once you start! The possibilities are endless! There is a gallery you can post your creations to and you can email them to friends as well!
www.mrpicassohead.com

Picasso inspired self portraits

What a wonderful way to come back to school- Bright smiling faces ready to create art! This week we began class by looking at Picasso's Portrait of Dora Maar and Weeping Woman. Students observed the different shapes, line, color and textured patterns in his work. We discussed what the differences between an abstract portrait and a photograph are. We then discussed what the term self portrait means. This term was new to many students.
Next students did a warm up self portrait drawing exercise. They are marvelous and I intend to put them on display soon! Following the warm up, students created a self portrait inspired by the style of Picasso by using scraps of paper to cut shapes and then draw facial features. After most of their features were complete they assembled them into a portrait and completed it by adding any missing elements they felt it needed.
Again, the room was full of fun and artistic chatter as the portraits were being assembled and coming to life!