Sunsets & Silhouettes

This project is simple and sweet...the kids always have fun and the results are always unique and wonderful!

Materials needed:
-Black construction paper
-White Watercolor paper
-Liquid watercolors in red, orange, yellow, purple
-Brushes
-White pencil
-Scissors
-Glue stick

The kids should first paint the sunsets.  While that is drying they can first draw, then cut out shapes they want out of the black construction paper.  I directed them to have one piece as the foreground and they can build from there.  

Little Blue Horse inspired by Franz Marc

Franz Marc was a German Expressionist painter who was also influenced by futurism and cubism.
He liked bold colors and often painted animals.  I was inspired by this painting "Little Blue Horse" and decided to have my students replicate the bold colors and they were so excited to learn how to draw a horse! (tutorial coming soon)

Materials needed:
- Circle templates for horse drawing (optional)
- Pencils
- Erasers
- Black Sharpie
- Watercolor paint
- Watercolor paper - one piece for the horse, one piece for the background
- Brushes
- Scissors
- Glue

Directions:
1.  I started with a simple tutorial on how to draw a horse, starting with only 4 circles.  (tutorial pics coming soon!)  We sketched the horse, outlined the outside edges with Sharpie and erased all the pencils lines.
2.  Once the horse is outlined, paint it blue, demonstrate how to get darker and/or lighter blue.  Encourage experimentation with getting different shades of blue.
3.  Once dry, cut out the horse
4.  Using Marc's Little Blue Horse as an example, paint the background landscape using bright watercolors to mimic the colors in the horizon, foreground, etc.
5.  Once background is dry, glue horse down.

 Take a look at what we made!  WOW!  They did a great job!

I heart Jim Dine

Jim Dine
American artist, liked to use familiar objects in his work, like hearts!  I thought this would be a great artist to talk about around Valentines Day! 


Materials needed:
-Black construction paper
-Pink and White crayons
-Watercolor paper
-Watercolor paint in red, orange, purple
-Glue
-Scissors

Directions:
1.  First have the kids fill up their entire sheet of black paper with rows of little x's and o's
2.  Next have them fold a piece of watercolor paper and draw half of a heart, then cut it out.  I did a demo then step by step we drew the heart then cut.  You could also opt to use a template.
3.  Using watercolors, paint the entire heart
4.  Glue heart to black paper

What a sweet piece of artwork!  Just in time for Valentines Day!  Would make a great gift!

Georgia O'Keefe's flowers

Georgia O'Keefe
American
1887-1986

Mainly known for paintings of flowers, rocks, shells and landscapes.  She often transformed her subjects into powerful ABSTRACT images.

She uses bold colors in her often huge paintings.  She tends to concentrated on just the little details, like the inside of the flower or just the petals.

"Filling a space in a beautiful way.  That is what art means to me."
-Georgia O'Keefe

Materials needed:
- Large watercolor paper
- Examples of Georgia O'Keefe's work
- Pencils
- Watercolor paints (or Tempera or acrylic paint if you prefer)
- Brushes
- Fresh flowers or photos of flowers (optional)
- Magnifying glasses (optional)

Directions:
1.  This part is optional, but I brought in an old calendar that had wonderful photographs of flowers.  The kids took magnifying glasses and we studying the photos, concentrating on the details.  We talked about how O'Keefe painted her flowers, up close and almost abstract.
2.  We started by lighting drawing in pencil our flowers shapes, stress the importance of really filling up the page, don't be afraid to let the petal "fall off the page", remind them that we are trying to draw a flower as if we were looking at it through our magnifying glass.
3.  Once they are happy with their sketch, add color!  Try to not leave any white space on your paper.

POP ART with Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol
(1928-1987)

Warhol was an American painter, printmaker and filmmaker.  He was a key figure in the POP Art movement which began in the 1950's.  POP Art explores themes and ideas from popular culture. 

Warhol created many of his pieces using a silkscreen process.  This project is an adaptation of that process inspired by his images of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis and Jackie O. 

BEFOREHAND - take a digital photo of each child.  Using Photoshop or any other similar software turn the photo Grayscale and then increase the contrast making the image purely black and white, no grays.

Materials:
- 8 copies of a black and white photo of each child (on plain copy paper is fine)
- Watercolor paints
- Gluesticks
- 16x20 Black contruction paper
- Examples of Andy Warhol's paintings

Directions:
1.  Each child will get all 8 copies of a photo of themselves that they will paint with watercolor.  Emphasize that each one should be different, altering the colors and/or color placement.  Refer to the examples of Warhol's paintings.
2.  Glue each image next to one another into a grid like pattern (4 on the top, 4 on the bottom) onto the big black construction paper.

Van Gogh Starry Night Crayon Resist

Van Gogh loved bright, contrasting colors.  His favorite color was yellow.  

Materials needed:

- Example of the "Starry Night" painting

- Yellow, white and silver crayons

- Black crayon for the cyprus tree

- Watercolor paint (blues and greens)

- Watercolor paper

- Brushes

Directions:

1.  Color with crayon the stars, moon and swirls with the yellow, white and silver crayons.  PRESS HARD!

2.  Color the cyprus tree it the foreground with black.  Kids may also want to draw in the village.

3.  Paint a wash of watercolor over the entire picture.