Nordstrom Art

Value Drawings in Crayon

2012-02-16T08:34:00.002-06:00

Students were to compose a still life with simple shapes and shade the objects to make them look three dimensional. This is tricky for Grade 5 students as the objects must be placed on the table correctly so it does not look like some are floating. To make the composition interesting, the students were to use a variety of shapes and sizes and be sure the tops and bottoms of objects do not line up. They were also expected to overlap a number of objects.

Superheros

2011-12-09T08:33:00.002-06:00

Students were to draw a face in proportion then turn that face into a superhero.

Creative Names

2011-10-28T13:21:00.001-05:00

For this assignments, students were to find creative ways to show their name. They were then to color them using analogous, complimentary, or monochrome color schemes. Our lesson was on color themes.

Shades of Joy

2011-10-27T15:40:00.000-05:00

For this assignment, we got our inspiration from Manitoba artist, Helen Stein. We looked at 4 pictures in here Shades of Joy series. We liked the simplicity of design and interesting color. We wanted students to separate warm from cool colors, mix wet on wet colors next to each other, and to paint with minimal water so that the paint is opaque.

Cartoon Watercolors

2011-10-27T15:35:00.000-05:00

In this assignment we worked on two criteria. First, the students were to try to "draw what they see". They were to copy an enlarged cartoon as accurately as possible. Secondly, they were to paint with watercolors for a transparent paint effect. We talked about warm and cool colors and students were encouraged to experiment with color placement.

Beauty of the Beasts

2011-05-30T11:21:00.002-05:00

Students were to paint in the style of Ted Harrison or Leroy Neiman. They were to paint a wild Manitoba animal.

Ted Harrison Water Colors

2011-04-25T08:48:00.000-05:00

Students view quite a few Ted Harrison pictures, then tried to copy his style. They were to use opaque colors and line their pencil marks with black marker. This made for a very colorful wall display.

Cartoon Watercolor

2011-04-25T08:46:00.000-05:00

This was the Grade 5 class first attempt at watercolor this year. They were to use transparent color, shade their characters, and use a variety of color on the background. Here are some of the results. Some choose very simple drawings but I think they did a pretty good job on the watercolor.

Crayon Value Drawings

2011-01-20T12:01:00.000-06:00

Grade 4 and 5 students create still life in crayon.

Van Gogh Style Landscapes

2011-01-20T11:58:00.002-06:00

Students were to use oil pastel to paint in the style of Van Gogh. They used short strokes of pure color next to each other to allow the eye to blend the color.

Faces in Proportion

2011-01-20T11:57:00.000-06:00

The main task was to create a face in proportion. A secondary task was to color in the style of Van Gogh with short colorful strokes. Students were encouraged to divide the face into warm and cool colors.

Patterns and Texture Fish

2010-11-29T18:42:00.001-06:00

Students studied how to create different textures on paper then tried to design a fish in color or black and white with a combination of different patterns and textures.

Value Half-Drawings

2010-06-22T12:04:00.002-05:00

Students cut a Pixar picture in half then drew one half. They were graded on shading. They were to use at least 4 different values and follow the shading of the original picture.

Wax Resist

2010-06-22T12:01:00.001-05:00

Students drew a colorful amphibian, reptile, or fish with oil pastel or wax crayon then mixed watercolor paint and washed it over the entire page.

Still Life in Oil Pastel

2010-06-22T11:59:00.001-05:00

For this project we focused on overlapping and shading of objects to make them look three dimensional. Students were to place at least 3 objects on a table in an interesting grouping. Then they were to add highlights and shadows with oil pastel. Finally, they used paint thinner to blend colors together.

Pop Art

2010-02-18T20:44:00.003-06:00

Students looked at the art of Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Keith Haring, three different Pop Artists. Students did a number of assignments including using Photofiltre to create a number of duotone images in bright colors. They put these images together like Andy Warhol's "Factory" art. Here are a few examples.

Hockney Art

2010-02-18T20:40:00.001-06:00

Students looked at the photo art of David Hockney and studied how he put photos together to create a picture. We especially looked at the piece he did of his grandmother then tried to copy what he did. Here are just a few examples.

Perspective

2010-02-02T08:31:00.002-06:00

Students did a number of exercises in 1 and 2 point perspective. The culminating activity for Grade 6 was a 2 point perspective city scape. Pictures turned out too light to photograph, but I included a few examples anyway.

Shading Faces

2010-02-01T08:02:00.000-06:00

The grade 5 and 6 class looked at shading simple spheres, cylinders, and cubes. We then looked how to shade eyes, noses, and lips to make them look realistic. Our final activity was shading their own faces. The pictures turned out too light to photograph and provide some samples.

Cartoon Watercolors

2009-11-27T09:36:00.001-06:00

The purpose of this assignment was two fold.

1. Draw what you see. Accurately draw a cartoon character and enlarge it to a full page.
2. Water color technique: Mix transparent color. Use shadow and highlights to show a 3 dimensional figure.

Here are some results.

Spooky Names

2009-11-27T09:34:00.001-06:00

For this exercise, we looked at how pictures could create a mood. Students tried to create a spooky mood by being creative with fonts and pictures to form their name.

Warm and Cool Color Abstract

2009-11-27T09:28:00.001-06:00

For this assignment, each student divided a paper in half. On one side they mixed colors to create warm colors, on the other they mixed cool colors. Students could only use the three primary colors of blue, red, and yellow along with white to mix colors. When they were dry, a group of 3-4 students cut up and combined their work to create a collage of a mixture of warm and cool colors.

Drawing with Scissors

2009-05-21T16:26:00.001-05:00

Another work done in the style of Henri Matisse. When Matisse became too sick to paint he often lay in bed and cut out shapes with scissors, then glued them to create paper collages. Students were to create works that demonstrated their knowledge of complimentary colors as well as creating colorul pieces in the style of Matisse.

Henri Matisse Style - The Master of Color

2009-04-30T15:36:00.001-05:00

Students studied Henri Matisse who was called the Master of Color. Specifically, we looked at his portraits and his "paper paintings". Each student created a portrait and a painting with scissors in Matisse's style. Since Matisse was the Master of Color, the pictures had to show the student's work portraying their mastery of color. Examples are shown below.

Art in the Style of Vincent Van Gogh

2009-04-30T15:29:00.001-05:00

We looked at the interesting life of Vincent Van Gogh. We also looked at a number of works by Van Gogh. Students attempted to create an original art work in the style of Vincent Van Gogh using oil pastels. They were to use short strokes, blend pure color next to each other to let the eye blend the color, and be creative or original. They were allowed to copy a work by Van Gogh and give it their own touch. Below are the results of this work.

Women in Art: Morphing

2009-03-23T09:21:00.000-05:00

This video shows a number of women's faces that appear in many famous paintings throughout time. Each face morphs into the next. Pretty cool.

The Many Faces of Van Gogh: Self Portraits

2009-03-23T09:16:00.000-05:00

Van Gogh did quite a few self portraits. One of the reasons was that he could not afford to pay models to sit for him. Van Gogh only sold one painting in his life time. Here are a number of his portraits morphing from one pose to the next.

Almond Blossoms: A Vincent Van Gogh Story

2009-03-23T09:10:00.000-05:00

We are studying the life and art of Vincent Van Gogh. Here is a fictional cartoon video. The artwork is done in the style of Van Gogh. The opening picture of the bridge is one of Van Gogh's famous paintings.

Bilateral Symmetry

2009-01-27T08:22:00.001-06:00

Students drew a profile of a face on one side of the paper, then drew the mirror image on the other. This is a good exercise for artists to "see" what they are drawing. It is a great brain exercise as well.

The Many Colors of Snow

2008-12-04T08:30:00.002-06:00

Snow is white. Period. Not to the artist, it isn't. To make your artwork come alive, artists can use realistic and unrealistic colors to show shadows and highlights on snow. Students are experimenting now and we hope to have some samples up on this site soon.

Fall Picture

2008-11-14T11:09:00.001-06:00

Students are to create a fall scene. It can be a spooky Halloween scene or simply a fall picture. Students were given the choice of a landscape or still life. Almost all of them chose to do a landscape. Students were allowed to use any medium they wished, although I did expose them to chalk pastels and their advantages for large areas like backgrounds or foregrounds. I really wanted them to blend colors to create the illusion of depth rather than use the same color for their entire ground or sky.

Patterns

2008-10-15T10:52:00.001-05:00

Students were to use geometric shapes to divide their page into at least 10 sections. They were then asked to fill each space with a different pattern. By their definition, patterns are to be repetitive. Students were to color with wax crayon and were encouraged to blend colors to create new colors.

Texture Name

2008-09-16T08:55:00.001-05:00

We start the year by looking at textures and how we can try to make an object look 3 dimensional on a 2 dimensional piece of paper. Students practiced making different textures on paper with pencil, then were given the assignment of printing their name on their portfolios. Each letter was to have a different texture. Students created textures of fur, brick, sand, stone, wood, and swiss cheese to name a few.

Welcome to the New School Year

2008-09-16T08:51:00.000-05:00

This year I will be teaching two Grade 5 classes and a Grade 5/6 split class. I will use this blog to inform parents what we are doing in class and to showcase some of the student's work.

Pastel Drawing from 07-08 School Year

2008-01-29T12:55:00.001-06:00

After experimenting with pastels, what did you discover about blending colors?