Continuing to Paint our Landscapes

This week we continued to work on our landscape paintings.  These paintings are fairly large, so it will take more than one or two weeks to complete.

We are putting our watercolor techniques into action by layering washes.

We are paying attention to detail and composition.

And finally, we are using some interesting techniques such as blotting wet paint with paper towels to build interest and depth in our paintings.  

Next week, we'll work on our paintings further and maybe even introduce a layer of pastels or watercolor pencils for more detail.  See you then!

Drawing & Painting our Landscapes

During the last two weeks before winter break, we drew and began painting our landscapes.   This resulted in a short demonstration on how to best draw on watercolor paper, so as not to have your drawing show through your painting.  I discussed how pressing too hard will damage the paper by creating a groove that catches more watercolor paint.  Watercolor paper is fairly forgiving and many students had to erase their drawing to make them lighter.  Here's a good example of how light the drawing should be:

Some students were ready to paint, so I went over watercolor techniques and we were on our way...

This was our progress after the first week:

Some of the students are using what is called liquid "masking" on their paintings.  It's a liquid that you place on areas you want to keep white.  In watercolor, there is no white paint... the paper is the white paint.  So, in order to keep our white areas white, it's a good idea to use masking.  We'll use rubber cement pickup squares after our paintings are finished to pull the masking off, revealing the white paper.

Here's a our progress right before the break.  We'll meet right after the break to continue these wonderful paintings!

Welcome to Art Enrichment in the New School!

It's the start of another great year in 4th grade art enrichment!  We had our first class this week, and did  sort of "getting to know you" exercise.  Mrs. Luker knows all of the students, but I don't.  Each student drew their name graphically and then illustrated different symbols and pictures around their name of things they are interested in.

We also talked about the expectations for art enrichment:

• Mrs. Luker and I want it to be fun, but we also have to work too.  So, behavior in AE should be just like it is in regular art class during school hours.  
• Students are allowed to bring a "working snack".  
• Clean up at the end of class should be handled just like it is in regular art class.  You are expected to put away all supplies and leave the table and chairs just how you found them.  
• We'll work on short projects that take one class period, other projects will span several weeks.  
• If you miss a class, you can check this blog for details on what we covered.
    

I am really excited this year as this is the first year we'll be having art enrichment in the new building.  There's so much space in the classroom and we are hoping to take on some larger projects including eco-art, sculpture, digital work (photography and/or video) and possibly a permanent installation piece on the school grounds.  

Next week, we'll begin a watercolor project using landforms as our inspiration.  The fourth graders are learning about landforms in their science classes, so Mrs. Luker and I hope to tie in some of science along with art and watercolor technique.  This coming Tuesday, we'll talk about the different ways that watercolors can be manipulated.  See you then!