Clay — ArtSmudge. Back in August of 2012 I posted a colorful, albeit brief, workshop demo on non-traditional glazing techniques for elementary art.
There were several techniques to choose from, with similar layering methods using a variety of oil-based and water-based mediums. Now, I had a great time taking pictures of it all, but failed to see its future requests, and therefore did not take very good dictation of instruction. Mia culpa. Now, after many email requests from readers and one editor, I have tried my hand at the most popular technique: Antiquing/Sgraffito. Sgraffito, which in Italian means to scratch through layers of thinly applied paint, isn’t exactly what we’re doing here. I’m following directions from art teacher extraordinaire Valerie O’Leary, who is the Donald Trump of teaching art to kids, and like most pros, a good bit of directions stay within their skilled hands. So again, take from my humble demonstration what you will. There's a Dragon in my Art Room: Subbing and an almost art show. I subbed today in my former classroom!
The current teacher was busy all day setting up for tomorrow's art show, so I got to spend my day with the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade, all my former students. It's so much fun to sub there - the kids treat me like a celebrity and are always so excited to see me there. Lots of hugs!!! And lucky me - I had a really fun day. The 4th graders folded paper into 6th's and painted each square to become a different scoop of ice cream - actually, five scoops, and one square for the cone. The 5th graders were working on Wayne Thibaud cakes, but I don't have any photos, and the 6th graders were finishing up some work, scrubbing and scraping tables, and sorting markers, as well as helping with the art show setup. At the end of the day, I stopped in the gym to see how the show setup was going and shot some photos to share with you here. Below, a paper weaving project, I believe 6th grade.
Next, some mandalas, with a CD in the center, made I think by 4th graders. There's a Dragon in my Art Room: 'Fractured Faces' - the Picasso Slip 'n Slide! I was searching through some folders a couple of days ago, and I unexpectedly uncovered the artwork which you see on for this post.
I have been blogging for about 5 years, but I've been retired for 3 of those 5 years, and I taught for 34 years before I ever even started blogging! So that means I have 34 years of art projects and lessons that I have never shared. So now and then, I'd like to tell you about some of them. These lessons were completed before I started regularly photographing student work (in the days before the ease of digital photography), so most of what I have to share with you are my personal project samples, and not student work. The images in this post are from lessons when the students were learning about Pablo Picasso. To start, students drew a goofy portrait, (as shown in the image above) which could, if desired, include elements of profile and front view, with exaggerated features. For example, see the still life below, my sample.
Art history. Sketchbook. Pen and ink. Painting. Pencil, colored pencil rendering.