7th grade interior spaces with perspective looking outward

This project was based on the "aquarium perspective" project that probably hits your pinterest feed at least once or twice a day. All of the seventh graders started out the same way. They had to have a back wall and checkered floor that followed one-point perspective. After that the students could choose what they wanted to do with their interior and exterior space. 

The challenge was for the students to create a space that then went beyond the space. 

I showed them examples of mostly aquariums with viewable ceilings and walls as well as solariums and greenhouses where you could see beyond the windows:

Most students used watercolor, watercolor pencils, colored pencils, sharpie, or magazine collage. Some students experimented with masking fluid. 

The entire Artsonia gallery can be viewed here. 

4 part still life project - middle school

4 Part Still Life Exploration with 8th grade

on 18x24 paper split into 4 9x12 sections

Students chose their still life object.

It had to be bigger than their hand with limited text.

I steered them away from stuffed animals and fuzzy/furry textures. 

I would absolutely do this project again and keep the order in which I introduced the parts. 

This was wonderful for differentiation-

it allowed all levels of students to learn a lot, better their skills, and feel comfortable. 

1. Realistic pencil drawing of the entire object with shading. 

(2-3 class periods)

2. In the style of Romero Britto. 

(3 class periods with introduction/quick slide show)

Students must zoom in on the object, with the option to abstract it. 

Using marker they broke the section down and filled it in with bright color to make it pop. 

(toaster abstraction)

3. Collage

(3-4 class periods depending on type of collage they chose, with slide show)

Students could choose the composition for this section- with the option to zoom & crop or showcase the entire object. 

I showed LOTS of examples of different types of collages. 

They could choose their materials- I suggested magazine cut outs, newspaper, or tissue paper. 

They had to include a background. 

4. Acrylic painting

(2 class periods with introduction to painting/demonstration)

This was the final section of the four.

Students had to look at their image as a whole and figure out what type of composition was needed in order to make the entire paper feel balanced. 

Most of them have never used acrylic paint before. 

Color options and backgrounds were up to the them. 

Students decided if they wanted to paint the object in colors true to life or not.

Suggestions if you are limited on time:

- you can cut down squares & stripes ahead of time

to collage for stripe or checkerboard backgrounds

- select the objects ahead of time and limit the objects they can choose 

More finished examples to come!

Citrus Fruit observational drawing

Observational drawing and creating a balanced composition

were the objectives for this fifth grade lesson. 

The students did practice drawings of the citrus fruits from various angles before we began these, focusing on the slight differences in shape. 

Each student had to draw at least five citrus fruits and arrange a balanced composition. 

I brought actual lemons, oranges, and limes in for the kids to look at as they drew. 

Some students used a little bit of colored pencil before the watercolor

to give them a boost with the shading. 

2-day Apple Still Life

My first graders looked at some of Cezanne's still life paintings with apples and looked closely at how the apples have different hues of red, yellow, and green. 

They painted three apples by mixing yellow and red tempera paint over turquoise or green paper. 

We reviewed warm colors and cool colors and examined Matisse's apple painting and how the warm colored apples and table stand out against the cool color background. 

To finish these the kids designed tablecloths with oil pastels. 

They were so into the concept of a still life that they wanted to do their own still life pictures as their extra time drawings when they finished their oil pastel. 

So today I set up still life arrangements (of containers and art supplies) for the FIRST GRADERS to draw from today and also went over the concepts of overlapping and viewpoints. They were so into it! 

 We just started them today but I had to share!

Kinder Observational Leaf Drawings

Kindergarten is studying the concept of size in their regular classes. 

For this lesson students painted with warm color watercolors and we added a little salt. 

The students learned about the concept of "observational" drawing and how to look at the an item closely to identify the shapes and details. 

They needed to draw a Small/Medium/Large leaf and if they had extra time and extra-small or extra-large. The borders were collaged with an extra painting we did 

and q-tips dipped in metallic copper paint. 

Simple but I thought they did a nice job!

Abstracted Plants with Watercolor

This project began with the students choosing one color for a base wash on their paper. 

Then we switched into observational drawing gear. 

The students did a number of contour, blind contour, and line drawings zooming in and out. 

I had them choose one part of a contour drawing to create a stencil out of.  They used this stencil to trace the plant shape on to their wash paper a number of times.  The stipulation was that it had to touch a side so that it gave the illusion of growing from somewhere. 

The students colored in the plant contours with black sharpie, black crayon, black craypa, and white craypa.  Then they added on patterns and deeper hues using analogous colors that related to their initial wash color choice.