Giraffes

My students drew along with me for the basic shapes of the giraffe and we focused on hot and cool colors when we painted.  Using watercolors, 1st graders painted the giraffe in yellows, oranges, and reds.  They used the cool colors of blue, green and violet on a light blue piece of construction paper and painted a simple design for the background.  We used the Alpha Biggie Tempera cakes to paint the background because the paint is more intense on the colored paper.  We cut out the giraffes and glued them to the background.  We have been working really hard at drawing and painting all kinds of animals!  I love the expressions on these!

Pastel Rabbits

Oh cuteness!  After a simple directed drawing at the board with second graders, and outlining with a black sharpie,  I showed them how to use a gray crayon to shade around the edges of the white bunny.  All I had to do is show them someone's white shirt and they were able to see that even white has shadows.

Then I demonstrated the "wet on wet" technique with my educational watercolors.  By applying the water to the paper first, then dropping small amounts of watercolors into the water, we were able to create the light pastel colors so popular around Easter time.  I am in love with all the wonderful expressions on these bunnies!

Farm Animals

As promised..... PIGS & COWS.  After our simple perspective farm painting, we worked on Picasso Roosters and then painted pigs and cows.  We drew these in pencil as a directed drawing, painted them with Alpha Biggie tempera cakes and finally used black watercolor markers to define the details.  I got some really cute expressions!

Part of the Family

Our library features an author/illustrator every month and this month was Cynthia Rylant.  I read my third graders the book "Dog Heaven" by her and they shared their feelings about their pets being part of the family! It was touching to hear how important their pets were to their family!!  I followed that book with "Why is Blue Dog Blue" by George Rodrigue.  It was an opportunity to talk about color and why artists use certain colors in their work.

After an initial basic sketch on the board of "dog details", each student drew their own dog or one they would like to own, and we painted those in the Alpha Biggie tempera cakes.  Once dry, details, patterns and contrast were added with oil pastels.  Here are some of the results!

Deer

I used a photograph of a fawn for my inspiration for this lesson on visual texture.  I did a simple directed drawing on the board with my 5th graders.

Materials:
 9 x 12 construction paper and oil pastels.

1. Start with a rectangle in the middle of the paper for the nose.  Add a triangle on top, and a half circle on the bottom.  This creates the nose.

2. Eyes are next.  We shape them much like a human eye with a "football" shape and a circle inside of it, keeping the eyes spaced farther apart than human eyes are.

3.  We connected the edges of the eyes with a curve for the top of the head, and did the same for the bottom of the chin,  making sure the chin was narrower.

4.  The ears are angled out at 45 degrees and are shaped to create the rounded edges.  Some students wanted to put the ears on top of the head, (which makes them look like bunny ears)  so be sure to check accuracy for location of the ears!

5.  We drew a simple curve for the back and stomach, and added a pine branch across the front of the deer to show depth.

6.  I did a demonstration on how to layer "strokes" of color with oil pastels to create the fur look on the deer.  We also talked about the direction of the strokes and how they lay on the face and body.  We used several browns, ocher, and white and black and layered those colors to create the visual texture.  Each student was very successful with this lesson, and they could not believe how well they turned out!  And I agree!