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February Art Class with Mrs. Lesnau

{February}

Artists (K-5) have been strengthening their use of line, shape and texture in their artwork while exploring the importance of color. Throughout the month of February artists have created both 2D and 3D pieces using multiple mediums such as graphite, watercolor, tempera paint, paper collage and clay.

Artists are continually STRENGTHENING their artistic abilities. To help Artists during the CREATIVE PROCESS, we have adopted the STUDIO HABITS OF MIND as a tool to CRITICALLY THINK about our ARTWORK and the ART we see around us. All artists have been developing their craft, expressing and story telling through their art and envisioning their plans before they begin their art.

-Kindergarten-

Kindergarten Artists have been nothing short of amazing this month! We began this month by finishing our Winter Self Portraits where Artists collaged different painted papers created using the tissue paper bleeding technique. This technique is super fun and always a favorite! It's quiet simple too, meaning you could even do it at home! All you need is bleeding tissue paper, a paintbrush and water. Place your tissue paper on your art paper and add water with your paintbrush. Then sit back and enjoy the show! This technique is another magic trick in the art room (the first being wax resist!). Our Winter Self Portraits focused on telling a story of the weather we are experiencing. We accomplished this by adding snowflakes in the background and dressing ourselves in warm winter gear! Artists had the option of creating a new design to their own winter coat, hat, scarf and gloves or replicate what they own. We also explored how to show emotion in our portraits. Artists learned about Chinese New Year and how 2022 is the year of the Tiger! We created our own tigers to celebrate. For this project, Artists learned about Print Making. We then took our orange paper, folded it in half and added black and white stripes on one side. Artists then folded the paper back again and rubbed their hands on the side of the paper. When Artists opened their paper, they noticed how a copy of the lines were created on the other side! We then collaged paper to make our paper look like tiger faces! They are so full of emotion! To celebrate Friendship Day, we used this technique on heart shaped paper to create wonderful heart prints. During 100 day, Artists celebrated by drawing a self portrait of themselves as 100 year old people! Currently, we are working on creating paper collage frogs where we are painting paper, drawing and cutting and gluing.

Kindergarten ARTWORK

Artists have created Winter Self Portraits, Chinese New Year Tigers, Heart Prints, 100 year old Self Portraits, and Frogs.

-first grade-

Artists started this month finishing up their Winter Day drawings where they drew a scene from the last time they played in the snow. We focused on how to visually tell a story using our drawing skills. For the background, Artists created a colorful sky using the tissue paper bleeding technique. If you would like to learn more about this technique, you can read the description under Kindergarten. Artists also created a Winter Village using painted paper. Artists created their collage in layers, first painting a snowy background and then collaging geometric shapes to create a village of small houses. Artists then added details and texture to bring the village to life! To celebrate Friendship Day, Artists learned about the artist Romero Britto and gained inspiration from his artwork. Britto describes his work as 'Happy Art' and what better way to celebrate Friendship than we Happy Self Portraits! Artists focused on creating a full body self portrait using simple geometric shapes and then filled the shapes with patterns. Artists traced their pencil lines and then painted their image with tempera cake paints. This process strengthened their control over their tools. Artists also learned different ways to draw a heart shape. The end pieces are so delightful and HAPPY! Currently, Artists are applying their pattern knowledge to their drawings of Dachshunds.

first grade artwork

Artists have created Winter Day paintings, Winter Village collages, Happy People self-portraits and Dachshund drawings.

-second grade-

Artists learned about Katsushika Hokusai's block print, Under the Wave off Kanagawa (The Great Wave) and were inspired. We took that inspiration and created our own waterscape paintings using tempera paint and oil pastel (added for texture). We added sailboats to our composition using paper that we added texture and color to with construction paper crayons and the tissue paper bleeding technique. Artists mindfully placed their sailboats in their composition making sure to think about how placement tells a story to the viewer. There was a lot of cutting and gluing involved, but the end pieces are fantastic! To celebrate Friendship Day, Artists drew dogs holding hearts. In this project, we focused on how different lines can create texture within our work. Instead of a smooth line, Artists used a zigzag line to show the texture of the dog's fur. Currently, Artists are finishing their Koi Pond paintings! We learned about the importance of Koi in Japanese culture and how they represent love and friendship. We also discovered there are over 100 variations of Koi! We drew Koi, and imitated real variations using oil pastels. Artists learned how to create highlights and shadows within work by blending white and black to sections. As we are creating our Koi Ponds, we are also watching a streaming video of a real Koi Pond in Japan. We will finish our images by applying watercolor and creating a wax resist.

second grade artwork

Artists have created Sail Boat Paintings, Dog Paintings, Koi Pond drawings.

-third grade-

Artists read the story of Chengdu, a Panda who simply cannot and would not fall asleep. While fiction, Artists recognized that Chengdu looked like a real Panda and lived in the same environment. We created Chengdu drawings on black paper using white colored pencil. This was a challenge for some because it is so different from our normal white paper and pencil. Our focus was to create depth within our work using overlapping large and small shapes and highlights and shadows. Artists trusted their skills and created masterpieces by blending white and black oil pastels, and different greens. To help with the depth, Artists switched from oil pastel to construction paper crayons for the background. The difference in texture made the oil pastel sections pop out. To celebrate Friendship Day, Artists created heart-shaped pinch pots! Artists ended up losing an entire week of Art Class due to Snow Days. We jumped back into art making the second that we could. Artists learned how mathematics can come in very handy while creating art, especially when drawing a grid. Artists created a 2x2" grid using a ruler. We took the hue blue and painted in some squares of the grid. Artists then used black and white to create tints and shades of blue to fill in the rest. It was important that Artists envisioned their plan and work mindfully to create the different tints and shades while not mixing the pallets of paint for everyone at the table. Artists then learned about monochromatic color schemes and how their grid was just that, monochromatic. They selected a shape and colored it with only orange crayons. Again, Artists used a monochromatic scheme. With their shapes, they created concentric shapes, meaning that the same shape was repeated within itself. Finally, Artists learned that there are color combinations that our brains really like. These are colors that are located opposite of each other on the color wheel and orange and blue is one of those pairs.

third grade artwork

Artists have created Chengdu drawings, Heart-shaped Clay Pinch Pots, Grid Paintings

-fourth grade-

Artists began this month by drawing a beetle. Then Artists had the task of filling the beetle with different patterns. From there, Artists painted their pattern beetles various colors using tempera cake paints. The beetles needed a background so Artists made some painted paper using yellow and green liquid tempera paint (and learned how to mix these colors to create the tertiary color of yellow-green) and turned it into a giant leaf! To celebrate Chinese New Year, Artists made clay tiger sculptures. Artists had to carefully create the different parts of a tiger and successfully attach them together to create a self standing (or stable) tiger. Artists used clay tools to carve details and texture into their work. They will glaze their piece during the first week of March. Artists are currently creating a painting where the design focuses on lines, patterns and contrast. Artists will explore the concepts of balance and contrast using the color scheme of black and white in most areas and then a small portion using colors in the spectrum order.

fourth grade artwork

Artists created Pattern Beetles, Clay Tigers and Black/White Contrast paintings.

-fifth grade-

Artists began their Tiger (or Husky) paintings by first drawing the face of their animal. We focused on how to use simple lines and shapes to create a complex structure like that of a tiger's or husky's face. Artists then got out the neon paints and had a blast creating the most colorful animals you have ever seen! For the background, Artists weaved strips of black and white paper together to create a checker board pattern. When the tigers and huskies were placed on the background the contrast created was insane! These pieces are so fun! To celebrate Friendship Day, Artists created pieces of art where the subject was a heart. Artists learned about positive and negative space and created a design that utilized both concepts with the shape of a heart. For a background, Artists got to experiment using our new Gelli plates. These plates are made of gelatin and are perfect for print making. Artists draw on the plates with washable marker, got their paper wet and then printed with the Gelli plates. The best part of this process is there is no clean up! Once an Artist made a print, they could go right into drawing another design. Artists then began to explore the medium of graphite and focus on drawing. To begin, Artists created a value scale and learned about the different types of pencils and why artists use certain types. They began to explore light sources and how this changes the value seen in real life and in artwork. To put our value scales skills to the test, Artists began their Gargoyle drawings which they will finish during the first week of March. Artists learned the difference between Grotesques and Gargoyles and then created their own Gargoyle! Artists are working on adding highlights and shadows to bring dimension to their drawings.

fifth grade artwork

Artists created Neon Tigers and Huskies, Positive / Negative Space Hearts, Value Scale Studies and Gargoyles.

Reminders

Art is messy business, but we try our best to keep our clothes clean! We practice being mindful when creating and knowing where our bodies are at all time. This means that we try lean over our artwork, roll up our sleeves and slow down our movement when creating. We haven't had any major spills, but every once and awhile some paint and markers do end up clothing. Usually, if clothing is placed in warm soapy water (Blue Dawn dish soap works the best) or OxyClean, overnight the stains come out of the clothing item. Make sure to have your student wear clothing that is suitable for creating art on art days.

Mission

Cole Academy will engage and inspire our diverse students to reach their full potential through individualized instruction.

I believe that the art room is a space where artists of all ages can explore and create without any judgement. It is a safe space where all are respected. My goal is to help artists establish fundamental artistic skills and encourage creativity, expression and confidence.

Created By
Layna Lesnau
Appreciate

Credits:

Created with an image by garageband - "abstract art background"