Today we went to the computer lab to research non-western cultures. Students looked at a variety of masks from these different cultures. Using the information gathered, students designed their own original masks with influences from other cultures.

Students researching masks online. Ryan studying his Italian Carnival Masks.

We are continuing our colored pencil drawings of our self-portraits again today. Here are some photos of students working on their drawings.

Harrison and his self-portrait.
Students at table four working on their self-portraits.

Students at table three working on their self-portraits.

Students working on their self-portraits in colored pencil.

Students working on their self-portraits in colored pencils.

We are continuing the process of working on our self-portraits. We practiced shading with color pencils today.

Hunter's example of shading with colored pencils.

Then we worked on finishing the line drawings using the grid to get our likeness drawn in correctly.

Third period students working on their line drawings.

Third period students working on their line drawings of their self-portraits.

Today we gridded our photos and white paper.

We used the grids to draw our self-portraits accurately.

Megan is carefully drawing in her self-portrait.

Today we learned how to draw a mouth. We watched a video online on how to draw realistic lips and teeth. Then we drew our own mouth following the artist's step-by-step directions. We also watched an online video on how to draw a mouth using photoshop. Today was the last day in class to work on this project. The finished facial feature project is due on Friday. Students also have their weekly sketchbook activities (1. Draw yourself while looking in the mirror. 2. Draw a family member or friend) due on Friday. Tomorrow we will be starting our next project: self-portraits.

Art History Monday. Today we watched a video on the famous Spanish artist, Velazquez. Velazquez was well-known for his portrait paintings. This is a great introduction to our next project, self-portraits, which we will be starting on Wednesday. Today we starting taking our photographs for our self-portraits. We also continued working on our drawings of facial features.

Friday Fieldtrip to Downtown Concord's Art's Council Gallery.

Student example of the current facial features project.
Mason and Harrison working on the facial features project. You can see their reference materials spread across the table. You can also see how they are using a viewfinder to crop their photo for a better composition.

I took this photograph over spring breakafter being inspired by the large backdrops that the students painted.

Before spring break students painted the backdrops that will be used as the decorations for the spring dance. The paintings were huge. We painted on 8 foot by 8 foot canvases. Here are some photos of the finished backdrops. They look great.

Purple flowers backdrop.

Blue flowers backdrop.

Yellow flowers backdrop.Orange flowers backdrop.

Red flowers backdrop.

Today we continued our facial feature project. We practiced drawing ears which can be very tricky. First we watched a video clip that showed an artist drawing an ear using a computer program. Then we learned the step by step process of how to draw an ear. Finally, we had time to draw an ear by look at a photograph. Students were able to see dramatic improvement from their first drawing of an ear from before spring break.

Students drawing from the image of an ear which is projected at the front of the classroom.

Students carefully shading their ear drawings.

Today we are starting a new project. The project is designed to develop shading skills and to help students learn to draw facial features accurately.

Example of finished project.

Amber working on her drawings of eyes.

I hope everyone had a great spring break. I sure did, but as always it went by too quickly.

We watched an art history video on Rembrandt to start off our week. Students received permission slips to get signed by Wednesday to go on a brief fieldtrip to the local art guild gallery in downtown Concord. Then, we gridded off the composition of our next project. Finally, we practiced using a viewfinder to create a composition.