Visual Journal Friday.

I'll let the images speak for themselves.

ART WALK in DOWNTOWN CONCORD TONIGHT 6PM-9PM. SEE YOU THERE!

Today we started our day by drawing a sphere. We are working hard to learn how to curve our lines so that the object appears to be rounded. We are also learning how to make light areas of our form appear to come forward in space by shading a dark shadow behind the light side. This is seen in the left hand side of the sketch below. We also continued drawing our railroad track in one-point perspective.

Sketch of a cone by Rebecca in 3rd period.

Railroad track in one-point perspective by Lacy in 3rd period.

Today we practiced shading a sphere. Then we started drawing our project on one-point perspective- a railroad track.

Brandi shading her sphere.

The downtown Concord Art Walk is this Friday night from 6pm-9m. This is a free event and it is a great way for students to get exposed to local artist and their work. Students are invited to attend. Those that attend and drop by my booth will get an extra 100 participation grade. The painting below is an example of one of my paintings that will be in the art walk tour.

We continued our introduction to perspective today. We started simple by drawing a cube in one-point perspective from six different viewpoints. Then we shaded a value scale in both the blending and hatching techniques.

Today was Art History Monday! We watched a video on Albrecht Durer. The students were able to get a better understanding of his mastery of print-making since they had just completed a linoleum print. Then we began our new unit on perspective.

It is finally Friday. Despite being in busy all week, this week has felt extremely long. Today we are inking our printing blocks and making an edition of three prints. This series of pictures shows the process we used to create our linoleum prints.

Jorey's black and white paper project.

Jorey is inking her printing plate.

First period art students transfering their linoleum prints onto paper.

Jorey's linoleum print.

Today we transfered the designs from our black and white paper project into our linoleum. The linoleum blocks are going to be used to make an edition of three prints. We will being printing in class tomorrow.

April and Chris are cutting their design into the linoleum using their paper project as a guide.

Amanda and Drew are being very careful with the sharp blades of the cutting tool.

Today we finished our black and white cut-out project. Tomorrow we will begin carving the same design into our linoleum block. Below is an example of the paper version of this project. This example was created by Alice Hodapp.

Today we got the class started by do a simple line drawing. We have moved on from our line unit to our unit on shape and form, but I don't want the student to forget how to do a line drawing. Also, the subject matter (an oscillating fan from the 1950s) was a more difficult subject matter than the chairs and stools from the previous unit. Throughout the semester, we want to continue to see what we are drawing in more detail.

After the warm-up, we continue to work to develop our art criticism skills. The students worked together with their tablemates to critique an art print using the four step proccess to art criticism.

Cody and David discussing the Henri Matisse print.

Finally, we spent the last 45 minutes of class working on our black and white cut-out project.

Ryan and Aaron working on their black and white cut-out design.

Jody working on his black and white cut-out design.

It's Monday again. How does the weekend go by so fast? While it is technically Monday and should be "Art History Monday" we will not be watching an Art History Video today because when I made out my lesson plan we were not suppose to be in school today. Ahh, snow! It is so nice to get those unexpected days off, but difficult to come to school when we should be out.

Instead of art history, we are continuing our black and white shape project today. We are going to take some quick notes on one of the principles of art-balance. Then we will be continuing our project. Finally today, after several days of explanation and planning, we are ready to start cutting out the black and white

Today we created for possible designs for our underwater shapes project. On Monday, we will select the best design and begin creating it out of paper.

Josh working on his possible designs for shape project.

We were finally able to start our new shape project. We first sought inspiration from the cut-outs of Henri Matisse. Then we did some brainstorming of possible objects we would see underwater, first as an individual and then as a class. Then we looked at PowerPoint Slides of some of the objects we discussed in our brainstorming: octopus, sea turtles, and coral. After looking at the slides and noting important details, we worked on simplifying the complex objects into simple black and white designs.

Ryan working on his squid design.Hunter and Chris working on their squid designs.

Today we were developing our critical skills. We analyzed six works of art. With each work of art that we looked at, the students became more comfortable talking and writing about art. While art criticism is not the most fun aspect of an Art I class, it is an important step in the process of becoming a better artist and learning to appreciate the art around us.

Projects:

You have followed her progress, and now I am pleased to show you Christina's finished project. I just love the detail and unique personality of the boot. It is such a nice example of a line drawing.

We took notes on Shape and Form today. This is a preview of the next major project we will be working on. We will begin our brainstorming and planning tomorrow.

Time flies when you're making art. I completely lost track of time today in class and forgot to blog. So now while sitting on my couch at home I am taking a quick moment to recap today's lesson. We continued adding to our warm-up activity that we began yesterday and added another can to the page. We looked at and discussed several images that emphasized positive and negative space. Lastly, students continued working on their line drawings of shoes. They also turned in their first visual journal page and their weekly sketchbook exercises. An example of an image that emphasizes positive and negative space. Some people first see the black vase as the positive space; while other people see the two faces as the positive space.

Christina working on her line drawing of her boot.

Close up of Christina's shoe.

Shoes, shoes, shoes

Today we started our first major (multi-day) project. We are drawing line drawings of shoes. I love the shoes that seem to have their own unique personality- converse all-stars, vans, and cowboy boots.

These are students in my 2nd period class focused intently on drawing their shoes. I look forward to posting images of their finished projects.

Students have homework due tomorrow when they walk into class- 1. Weekly sketchbook activities (draw a monster and draw while resting) 2. Finish adding details to Visual Journal #1- Universal Shapes. For more information about homework and make-up work check out my webpage on the MPHS homepage.

Art History Monday on Wednesday

Well, after an unexpected 4-day weekend, we are back in school. And even though it is not technically "Art History Monday", I decided to continue with my original plan to show our first art history video. The artist we learned about is named Giotto. And even though he lived over 700 years ago, he is considered the forefather of Western art. Legend has it that the 12-year-shepherd boy was discovered sketching while watching his father's sheep and allowed go to Florence to apprentice under the direction of another artist, Cimabue. It was Giotto's inovative painting technique and his new ideas about visual space that would create the ground work for the artists of the Italian Renaissance.