The Scream- What's Your Fear?

What's your fear? This is the question I start out asking the kids for this crayon resist lesson on Edvard Munch mysterious picture 'The Scream'. 

Distorting Your Fear

Their fear can be of anything, (real or imagined) as long as they use our vocabulary word 'distortion' in the depiction of their fear. Could it be bacon, a Pop Tart, Skittles? As long as the kids have somehow  altered or twisted the original shape, so it is a distortion of the thing they are afraid of, it'll work.

A fear of bacon

Crayon Resist

We started out drawing our 'fear' using oil pastels. Making sure they press down hard to get a thick layer of color.

Starting with oil pastels

A fear of dolls

Using Color Families

After the oil pastel colors have been added the kids then can start painting with watercolors to create a resist effect. I have them paint a section of warm, cool and earth tone colors. For the 'Scream' the kids use neutral colored oil crayons.

Painting warm colors in the sky

A fear of Pop Tarts

A fear of Skittles

A fear of a mouse

A fear of Siri

 If you want to see my 'how to' on drawing My 'Scream' here it is- My 'Scream'
What do you think of our 'Scream' paintings? Do you use "The Scream" in your art class? You can comment below.

Working With Patterns- Drawing The Taj Mahal

Architecture From Around The World

We've recently been working on an 'Architecture from Around the World" unit in my 6th grade art history classes.   The first building we've worked with is the Taj Mahal.

Islamic Art

The students first start off learning about the historical and cultural influences of Islam on the building. For example, besides learning about the history of the building and  they also learn about the meaning of the different parts of the building, such as the minarets and the onion domes. They also see examples of Islamic patterns and design.

Measuring With Rulers- Math Connections

When we begin our Taj Mahals we start off using rulers to measure and to draw out the basic shapes. We start measuring out the center section first and work our way outwards to the outer set of minarets. Students have to keep in mind the the design of the building is symmetric.

Creating Patterns

When the building sections are drawn out the students then have to design a minimum of 10 patterns to put into their drawing. Some of the patterns can be lines, some shapes and some  a combination of both.

We use ultra fine and fine point sharpies to draw in all the patterns. They're good when working with watercolors, because they don't run.

Once all the patterns are drawn in, the kids then can start painting in the watercolor sky.  The sky should be a blend of two analogous colors. For these paintings we used   watercolor pencils for the backgrounds. But you can also use the watercolors in a tray too.

What do you think about our Taj Mahal project? Do you have any art projects to share that involve architecture? 

Clay Slab Birds

We recently made these Sculpty clay slab birds. They were fun to make and all were sooo unique.

Clay Slabs

First, we rolled out the clay into slabs. The kids had previously made tracers for the body and cut out the shape using clay tools. They then rolled out more slabs and cut out a head, beak and wings, etc.  We also made sure to poke out holes using a pencil for tail feathers and legs.

After all the birds were cooked we then began to paint them with acrylics. The kids can mix together any colors they want.

The 'extras'

Our next step was to then add our 'extras'.

The 'extras' we added were glitter, button eyes, jewels, yarn, pipe cleaners and ribbons tail feathers. The holes we made by the tail was a good place to add the ribbons and pipe cleaners. You can add anything else you can think of.

What do you think of our birds? Have you ever tried making clay birds? I'd love to hear about it!