I saw my muse the other day. I was distracted for a moment by some abstract thoughts and, looking off toward the sunlight, I saw her.
I asked, "where in the world have you been?"
She said, "I keep dropping by but you're always so busy working I don't want to interrupt you. You look so intense. You don't even see me at the window, so I just figure I'll come by sometime when you're daydreaming. Like just now."
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Painted Texture Collages
—Lesson Plans—
This project can be done with any media on paper. Here we've used finger paint. A great way to begin is to ask students to think of an animal in an environment. We always have animal books on the reference shelf to help.
I get the students thinking about all the different elements they will have in their picture. An animal. Some vegetation. The ground. The sky. I give the students full and half sheets of paper and they draw the outline of each object on the paper, leaving lots of room around it. It has to be a drawing that makes sense as a very simple shape, such as the fish below.
Because we need room for making textures on the reverse, and for easily cutting the shapes, the students might only want one or two shapes on each piece of paper, depending upon the sizes. For things like the sky and ground, they don't need to do a drawing. Then they separate all these elements onto different pieces of paper by cutting or tearing down their larger papers so that every element is on its own paper.
For the next step, the students turn over their papers and create textures on the reverse, covering all the paper, and using colors and textures that make sense given the subject. The sky and ground, or anything large, can be dealt with simply be painting a piece of paper that is large enough.
Once the paint dries, the students turn the papers over and cut on the outlines, so that they have textured and colored shapes of their objects, without any drawn lines, or details. They collage everything together to make their picture, laying it out, first, and then gluing it to a larger paper or board once they are satisfied. They might want to paint a few minor details, such as the eyes on the fish below, to finish the piece, if they feel it needs some accents.
The example below is different. This young student did not understand the concept of using the drawing as a preliminary step that would be lost in the process. She didn't want to let go of her original drawings, so she glued the textured sides down, obscuring that part of the process, except for the traces of paint that smudged or bled through. The result is quite attractive and very interesting. Some processes are too difficult for a younger child to conceptualize. But she wasn't frustrated and whatever way they go with the project is okay with me as long as they are developing.
This project can be done with any media on paper. Here we've used finger paint. A great way to begin is to ask students to think of an animal in an environment. We always have animal books on the reference shelf to help.
I get the students thinking about all the different elements they will have in their picture. An animal. Some vegetation. The ground. The sky. I give the students full and half sheets of paper and they draw the outline of each object on the paper, leaving lots of room around it. It has to be a drawing that makes sense as a very simple shape, such as the fish below.
Because we need room for making textures on the reverse, and for easily cutting the shapes, the students might only want one or two shapes on each piece of paper, depending upon the sizes. For things like the sky and ground, they don't need to do a drawing. Then they separate all these elements onto different pieces of paper by cutting or tearing down their larger papers so that every element is on its own paper.
For the next step, the students turn over their papers and create textures on the reverse, covering all the paper, and using colors and textures that make sense given the subject. The sky and ground, or anything large, can be dealt with simply be painting a piece of paper that is large enough.
Once the paint dries, the students turn the papers over and cut on the outlines, so that they have textured and colored shapes of their objects, without any drawn lines, or details. They collage everything together to make their picture, laying it out, first, and then gluing it to a larger paper or board once they are satisfied. They might want to paint a few minor details, such as the eyes on the fish below, to finish the piece, if they feel it needs some accents.
Friday, November 30, 2012
Heads
—Lesson Plan—
This is one good way to get students thinking about the head in perspective and how the features wrap around the head. It's a good intro to drawing the head in a variety of positions.
It's pretty self-explanatory. I do a demo to start them. The students simply draw these cartoon-like heads looking in as many different directions, from as many different angles, as they can think of.
The way to start is by drawing latitude and longitude lines on the spheres, as if they were globe maps. Often they get stuck at this point and create incongruous relationships of the vertical and horizontal axes. As they draw each head, they follow the lines by adding mouth and eyes, very simply.
These may come out a little exaggerated, and that's okay. The face is relatively small, and unless it fills the page and feels very close up, the perspective is very often not pronounced. But the features do wrap one way or another, and I often have to point out when the students get the features wrapping the wrong way or not enough in these drawings.
This is one good way to get students thinking about the head in perspective and how the features wrap around the head. It's a good intro to drawing the head in a variety of positions.
It's pretty self-explanatory. I do a demo to start them. The students simply draw these cartoon-like heads looking in as many different directions, from as many different angles, as they can think of.
The way to start is by drawing latitude and longitude lines on the spheres, as if they were globe maps. Often they get stuck at this point and create incongruous relationships of the vertical and horizontal axes. As they draw each head, they follow the lines by adding mouth and eyes, very simply.
These may come out a little exaggerated, and that's okay. The face is relatively small, and unless it fills the page and feels very close up, the perspective is very often not pronounced. But the features do wrap one way or another, and I often have to point out when the students get the features wrapping the wrong way or not enough in these drawings.
Section painting
—Lesson Plan—
This one is a variation on using a grid to scale up a drawing.
We start with some pictorial sources, like calendar pages, which I cut into perfect squares on the paper cutter. It's important to start with square sources. We then fold those references like a map and cut on the folds to produce a stack of puzzle pieces, more or less.
Then I give the students larger square pieces of paper, which they fold identically (only larger) and cut the same way. The younger students should make less folds and end up with less sections than the older students.
I have the students scramble their reference pieces and stack them face down. One at a time, they draw a piece to copy onto one of their blank pieces of paper, which they set aside to dry. I don't let them assemble the pieces until they are done. I explain to the perfectionists that the point of the project is to force ourselves to work through a process to see how that affects the final art work.
They can try to be as accurate as possible, or they can work more casually. They can even change the colors as they go.
When all the pieces are copied, they assemble the pieces and collage them onto a new piece of paper or board. Because they are unlikely to cut straight lines, and because the pieces get scrambled, the finished pieces will not line up exactly. I tell them this is part of the charm of the art, that there are imperfections that are fun and interesting to look at. We have achieved a particular aesthetic that has to do with things looking hand-made and assembled—pieced together like a quilt. Some would call this a form of Cubism but I would not consider that to be strictly correct.
The examples pictured here had not yet been glued to a substrate. Note how two of the students very intentionally painted quadrants different colors. It reminds me a little of something Warhol might have done.
This one is a variation on using a grid to scale up a drawing.
We start with some pictorial sources, like calendar pages, which I cut into perfect squares on the paper cutter. It's important to start with square sources. We then fold those references like a map and cut on the folds to produce a stack of puzzle pieces, more or less.
Then I give the students larger square pieces of paper, which they fold identically (only larger) and cut the same way. The younger students should make less folds and end up with less sections than the older students.
I have the students scramble their reference pieces and stack them face down. One at a time, they draw a piece to copy onto one of their blank pieces of paper, which they set aside to dry. I don't let them assemble the pieces until they are done. I explain to the perfectionists that the point of the project is to force ourselves to work through a process to see how that affects the final art work.
They can try to be as accurate as possible, or they can work more casually. They can even change the colors as they go.
When all the pieces are copied, they assemble the pieces and collage them onto a new piece of paper or board. Because they are unlikely to cut straight lines, and because the pieces get scrambled, the finished pieces will not line up exactly. I tell them this is part of the charm of the art, that there are imperfections that are fun and interesting to look at. We have achieved a particular aesthetic that has to do with things looking hand-made and assembled—pieced together like a quilt. Some would call this a form of Cubism but I would not consider that to be strictly correct.
The examples pictured here had not yet been glued to a substrate. Note how two of the students very intentionally painted quadrants different colors. It reminds me a little of something Warhol might have done.
Pictogram landscape
—Lesson Plan—
I prepare for this lesson by researching pictograms and gathering examples from various cultures. I concentrate on pictograms that represent objects we would find in a landscape: mountains, rivers, fields, clouds, or the sun, for example. I give the students a handout as a reference for them.
The students draw and color patterns of these symbols, each on a different paper. Then, they cut them out and arrange and glue them on a sheet of paper in an abstract landscape.
This project gets them thinking about visual language, abstraction, and composition. The first one below is my demo and the next is a student work.
There are a number of strong attributes we can identify in the student work. First, it is very dynamic. My sample is pretty static. The student turned symbols in a variety of orientations. Secondly, the color is well done—better than mine. This has a split-complementary relationship between the reds and greens. These particular reds and greens have a simultaneous contrast relationship, and we can look at Klee and Delauney to see that theory in their work. Yellow and blue can also sometimes function as complements, so that's another relationship. You can also think of the whole palette as primaries, though it is a cool palette, keyed to blue (every hue has blue in it, even the yellows and reds). Finally, the student uses a similar parallel line patterning in every symbol, and that creates theme and variation throughout. So there's something to talk about here with students at every level of experience.
I prepare for this lesson by researching pictograms and gathering examples from various cultures. I concentrate on pictograms that represent objects we would find in a landscape: mountains, rivers, fields, clouds, or the sun, for example. I give the students a handout as a reference for them.
The students draw and color patterns of these symbols, each on a different paper. Then, they cut them out and arrange and glue them on a sheet of paper in an abstract landscape.
This project gets them thinking about visual language, abstraction, and composition. The first one below is my demo and the next is a student work.
There are a number of strong attributes we can identify in the student work. First, it is very dynamic. My sample is pretty static. The student turned symbols in a variety of orientations. Secondly, the color is well done—better than mine. This has a split-complementary relationship between the reds and greens. These particular reds and greens have a simultaneous contrast relationship, and we can look at Klee and Delauney to see that theory in their work. Yellow and blue can also sometimes function as complements, so that's another relationship. You can also think of the whole palette as primaries, though it is a cool palette, keyed to blue (every hue has blue in it, even the yellows and reds). Finally, the student uses a similar parallel line patterning in every symbol, and that creates theme and variation throughout. So there's something to talk about here with students at every level of experience.
Texture rubbings and washes
—Lesson Plan—
I like lessons that teach something in addition to the primary goal. Here, the primary goal is to explore texture. Secondarily, the students learn about resists and washes.
My students enjoy this because it's a bit of a scavenger hunt. They get to run around outside and find textures to collage together onto their paper. The process is a simple one of placing the paper on rough surfaces and rubbing the paper with dark crayons. When one of the artists finds a particularly interesting texture, the others ask where it was and run off to get their own impressions.
One of the cool things they learn is how much texture there is in the world. Texture is everywhere and that's why using texture in drawings and paintings makes the images seem more real, even if they are abstract.
Once they fill their papers, the students come back in and wash over the crayon with transparent watercolors. The waxy crayon markings resist the water, creating a nice effect.
I like lessons that teach something in addition to the primary goal. Here, the primary goal is to explore texture. Secondarily, the students learn about resists and washes.
My students enjoy this because it's a bit of a scavenger hunt. They get to run around outside and find textures to collage together onto their paper. The process is a simple one of placing the paper on rough surfaces and rubbing the paper with dark crayons. When one of the artists finds a particularly interesting texture, the others ask where it was and run off to get their own impressions.
One of the cool things they learn is how much texture there is in the world. Texture is everywhere and that's why using texture in drawings and paintings makes the images seem more real, even if they are abstract.
Once they fill their papers, the students come back in and wash over the crayon with transparent watercolors. The waxy crayon markings resist the water, creating a nice effect.
Ribbon drawing
—Lesson Plan—
This is a simple lesson. The students arrange a thick ribbon on the table and light it in a pleasing way. When they are done drawing it, they glue it to the paper.
We had red ribbon lying about so we used it, but I think white or grey might look better.
This is a simple lesson. The students arrange a thick ribbon on the table and light it in a pleasing way. When they are done drawing it, they glue it to the paper.
We had red ribbon lying about so we used it, but I think white or grey might look better.
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