Observing and drawing like Scientist

Here are some Oil Pastel creations done by 4th and 5th grade students from Observation.  I purchased several of those really large artificial pumpkins on clearance several years ago.  They have naturally aged and gotten slightly dirty creating different colors making them great for an observation work.  Students were task with drawing a pumpkin as it looked and not stylized with a rectangle stem sticking on the top of a circle.  We talked about the texture of the pumpkin and how it was not truly smooth but had irregularities that we wanted to make apparent in our work.   Using oil pastels in analogous colors, students them added color and dimension to their drawing.  I'm really pleased at the variety of the completed projects and how each of them hints at the 3D element of the pumpkin.  They were allow to finish them as they chose which is evident in the many different backgrounds.

Building a Still Life Composition.

After taking an AOE Studio Drawing course this past summer, I have rethought my process for observational drawings.  This year I have decided to truly involve students in the still life process by allowing them to touch the items and put together the components of their own still life rather than being limited to what I might assemble for them.  The focus for the assignment is to demonstrate an understanding of Space in art by using overlap, placement, and linear perspective.  Students in 4th grade are drawing Pez dispensers.  Part of the fun is truly examining the dispensers and choosing which ones are most personally appealing. Here are some photos of the process as students are spending week two on building their still life compositions.

Build and Draw - Observational drawing with Kindergarten

Build & Draw

I took my first Studio class with AOE this past summer, Studio Drawing.  If nothing else, the course gave me the "courage" to try a few new techniques with my students.  I also re-evaluated some of the ways I presented a few of my lessons for Kindergarten.  After taking the Reggio Emilo class a year ago, I have been beginning the year with my Kinders doing creative play activities using a variety of manipulative and not jumping into the year with projects.  After four weeks of creative play, I introduced my students to a draw and build.  They used three children's blocks to build something and then drew the shapes using a whiteboard.  For an entire class, they built, drew, rebuilt, drew, etc.  This week, five weeks into the year, I handed them pencil and paper for the first time.  They repeated the build and draw on one piece of paper, three times, then were given colors to practice their coloring skills.  This was a terrific way for me to establish a baseline for observational skills, shape identification and reproduction and coloring.  I am so happy with the results!

Kinders are standing to do art this year

Progressing with their drawing

Ready to build again

Focus

Great Concentration

Building

Let's get started!

Trading blocks to build again.

Lots of building imagination

Starting to add color

Observational drawing from a Fall Still Life.

Fourth grade students have been working on their observation skills as they drew a still life.  I often question myself as to whether this is too hard for a 4th grader but based on the results this year, I think they are definitely up for it.  I was really pleased with many of the results.  They were challenged to focus on shadows, colors and laying down their color in a way to add the illusion of dimension to their work.  For their first attempts at this type of work, I think they did really well!

American Artist Charley Harper Bluebirds

Last year I introduced my students to the work of American Artist Charley Harper.  They created some wonderful cardinal paintings.  This year I decided to try his bluebird with second grade students.  First off I need to share, this bluebird was pretty hard.  I only did this lesson with one class and returned to the cardinal for the others.  This was our first day back after Thanksgiving break.  We had a huge snow storm that took down a lot of trees and one of my favorite trees outside of the Art room suffered a huge loss.  I stepped outside the room during my prep and picked up one of the fallen branches and brought it inside of the room.  It is still hanging on my whiteboard.  I decided to have the second graders observe the branch and attept to see it like a scientist.  They started the lesson by first practicing on a small sheet of paper and then they drew a larger second drawing.  To this one they added the Charley Harper bluebird.   All the drawing was done with black crayon and they painted with watercolors.  Students chose to make the night sky a dark purple or to make an orange early morning sky.

Fall Harvest Observational Drawings

Fourth grade students have been working on developing their ability to see "like a scientist" this past month by observing and drawing a harvest still life.  After drawing the still life the first time, they partner critiqued and drew it again based on the feedback they received.  The 2nd attempt was then colored using oil pastels.  Again, students focused on adding color as they saw it not as they thought it should be; no coloring book colors from this group!  Here are some of their beautiful results.

Life has been busy!

I've been absent way too long but it's not because things haven't been happening in the art room.  This month the focus was on shape, line and color across the grades.  Some of the projects are repeat project and a few were some old tried and true that I hadn't gotten to in the last several years.

Multiple projects from across the grades.

Above is the bulletin board in one of the schools where I tried to display a few projects
from each grade. You will notice spider webs done with a watercolor wash from
 Kindergarten where the focus was on line names and directions identification.  
Both third and fourth were creating observational drawings.  Fourth
 created the harvest still life and third were drawing skeletons.  For both 
grades the focus was "seeing like a scientist" and drawing only things as 
they are seen rather than what we know to be true. This proved to be a bit 
challenging for both groups so a two drafts were created for each project with
 personal and group critiques to help students to raise the bar with their drawings.

Second grade students created line/pattern leaves with scratch art paper.  This is a project from several  years ago.  I had used the die cut machine to cut out maple leaves and the left overs were filed away.  Since there were enough for my two classes, I decided to pull it back out again.  Since 2nd grade had never used scratch art paper before, I had them practice drawing lines and patterns on a small scrap of the paper first.  After mastering the technique, the stem was extended onto the leaf and veins added to created sections.  Each section was filled with a different line pattern.

Finally, a few photos of the value webs from 5th grade.  This project is a twist on one from Art with Mr. E that was popular a few years ago and you still find on pinterest.  Instead of plotting along a line and then creating the value curves, I had students draw a spider web and add value around the web.  Most students opted to add a spider using oil crayons once they were finished.  These were especially striking.  

So that will catch you up a little with the going ons.  I'll try to post a little more regularly in the future.

Rethinking the entire process!

Back in August, Nic Hahn from Mini Matisse posted a video on critique and feedback from Ron Berger at Presumpscot Elementary in Portsmouth, Maine.  The video was the story of Austin's Butterfly.  She encouraged her followers to both watch the video as well as share it with their students.  I have share it with all my students grades 1 - 5 with terrific results.  Here it is if you haven't yet viewed it for yourself.

This is how this video has restructure most of my teaching for this year.  To begin with, all my students are regularly reminded to "see like a scientist".  They draw what they see not what they know.  This week we began observational drawings in 3rd and 4th grade and students immediately began to assist one another with positive critiques and to talk about changes they would make with their next drafts.  I love the impact one short video has had on the way my students are thinking about their art making.   I am challenged to expect more from my students and recognize that I can encourage them to grow this year as artist as they also challenge themselves to improve on their skills and to cast aside the "I can't" mentalities of the one time lesson.

One of our first attempts have been observational drawings of a harvest still life and a skeleton.

4th grade Harvest Still life

4th grade student Harvest Still Life

3rd grade Skeleton Drawing

3rd grade Skeleton Drawing