"The Scream"

Today (since it is Halloween) we are painting a copy of Edvard Munch's most famous painting- "The Scream".

Since the first week of class, students have been asking me, "when are we going to start shading?" It is a valid question for an art class. But I think there are other skills that students must first develop before they can be good at shading. They need to learn to look carefully at what they are drawing. They need to be able to see the lines and shapes in objects. And they need to develop strong hand and eye coordination.

But finally, it is time for my Art I classes to start shading. And once we start we don't stop. It is like opening a flood gate. This week we started learning how to shade value scale in the four different shading techniques (blending, hatching, cross-hatching, and stippling), we began shading 3-D forms (like spheres, cube, cones, and organic forms), and we began working on our drawing of a railroad in one point perspective.

This is what our railroad will look like when we get finished. I will keep you up-to-date on the students progress.

I'm so proud

Art Club has been very busy this year. We have decorated our Art Club t-shirts with Clorox pens and painted 2 murals. This is the latest mural that the club completed in Mrs. Grelecki's room.

The mural was designed by Hannah.


Hannah (left) and Mallory (right) did the bulk of the painting
with some help from Coral and Katie.

Great work girls. I am very proud of your hard work! And I know that Mrs. G is very happy to finally have a window in her room. ;)

Today is the end of the first nine weeks of school. I can't believe we are already a quarter of the way through this school year. I am, however, glad for a break, and I know my students are as well. We are just finishing up our color wheel project. Below are some student examples of the project we just finished.~Dylan C.
~Allie L.~Kara W.
Next week, we will begin shading which will include a still-life project, 1-point perspective, and 2-point perspective. This unit will last about 3 weeks.

So for today to celebrate the end of the 1st grading period (and let the few students who are still working on their color wheel get finished), we are going to play my favorite art game- Pictionary. It is going to be a good Friday!

Photo of the Week

I realize that many of our art students love photography. We do not offer a photography class here at Mount, but you can take an online photography class once you have completed the prerequisite of Art I. However, I want to encourage my students to pursue their passions, so recently I created a bulletin board for our "photo of the week". Students have the opportunity to email me their outstanding photographs and have their work displayed in our classroom. Below is our first entry for photo of the week. This photograph was taken by Zoe C. Zoe says it was the most beautiful rainbow she has ever seen, and she thought the cloud on the right looked like a dove. Great photo Zoe. Thanks for sharing it with us!


"Rainbow" by Zoe C.

My art classes are going on a field trip to the Reynolda House Museum of American Art on Thursday, November 17th. We need about 10 adult chaperons to go with us.
If your son or daughter is in our class and you are interested in going with us on the field trip, please call or email me.


Here's a little preview of what we are going to see.
Albert Bierstadt "Sierra Nevada"
Heade "Orchid with two hummingbirds"

Flack "Bounty"

Today we are reading an article that I discovered on the National Geographic web-page yesterday. It describes the discovery of what they are calling "the world's oldest art studio". They have found paints, grinding tools, and a fire-pit where artists from 100,000 years ago prepared red and yellow paint for decorating the walls and their bodies. The picture below is an abalone shell that was used to grind pigments for the paint mixture.


We are also looking at 2 short videos that demonstrate how paints were created long before you could drive down to AC Moore and buy whatever color you wanted.

After learning about the creation of paint, we will continue working on our color wheels.

Reminder: Don't forget that your homework is due on Friday. Choose any one of the 60 drawing activities on your list.

Monday, October 17^th

1. Art history video with guide- Bruegel

2. Video clips on how to shade with colored pencils

3. Color 2 sections of your color wheel

4. Check Friday’s homework

HOMEWORK:

· Weekly Sketchbook Check which is due on Friday. Draw one of the activities listed on the sketchbook activities page that you received today in class. Spend a minimum of 15-30 minutes working on your drawing. You may use any media and any style. Homework passes will be accepted.

If you haven’t completed the following tasks, you need to do so ASAP!

· Bring $10 Supply fee

· Get November Newsletter signed

· Purchase supplies or bring money in to purchase supplies from Mrs. Highsmith.

Thursday, October 13

1. Warm-up: practice with color schemes.

2. Reading Circle- “I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More”

3. Video Clip of how to shade with colored pencils.

4. Finish drawing line drawing of images on circle.

5. Divide the color wheel into 6 sections.

6. Label the 6 colors.

7. Begin shading the first section with colored pencils. Don’t shade more than 1 section.

HOMEWORK:

· Weekly Sketchbook Check which is due on Friday. Draw one of the activities listed on the sketchbook activities page that you received today in class. Spend a minimum of 15-30 minutes working on your drawing. You may use any media and any style. Homework passes will be accepted.

If you haven’t completed the following tasks, you need to do so ASAP!

· Bring $10 Supply fee

· Get November Newsletter signed

· Purchase supplies or bring money in to purchase supplies from Mrs. Highsmith.

Friday, October 14

1. Study notes on color for 5 minutes.

2. Quiz on color schemes.

3. Watch 45 minute video on color pencil techniques.

4. Color 1 or 2 sections of your color. Do not color more than 2 sections.

HOMEWORK:

· Weekly Sketchbook Check which is due on Friday. Draw one of the activities listed on the sketchbook activities page that you received today in class. Spend a minimum of 15-30 minutes working on your drawing. You may use any media and any style. Homework passes will be accepted.

If you haven’t completed the following tasks, you need to do so ASAP!

· Bring $10 Supply fee

· Get November Newsletter signed

· Purchase supplies or bring money in to purchase supplies from Mrs. Highsmith.

1. Warm-up: Practice identifying color schemes in works of art.Monochromatic Color SchemeComplementary Color SchemeAnalogous Color Scheme

2. Skills development: blending colors with colored pencils.

3. Draw images onto circle.

HOMEWORK:

· Weekly Sketchbook Check which is due on Friday. Draw one of the activities listed on the sketchbook activities page that you received today in class. Spend a minimum of 15-30 minutes working on your drawing. You may use any media and any style. Homework passes will be accepted.

If you haven’t completed the following tasks, you need to do so ASAP!

· Bring $10 Supply fee

· Get November Newsletter signed

· Purchase supplies or bring money in to purchase supplies from Mrs. Highsmith.

Yesterday we took a quiz where students has to label a blank color wheel. And everyone did so well. I was very proud and impressed. Today we are going to be reviewing color schemes. I hope they will do as well with this as they did with the color wheel.

Today we are finishing painting our color theory project.

Next, we are going to be shading and blending with color pencils.