Grade 1 ~ 'Big Face' Portraits

The Grade 1 students have made a great start to Art this year. They have made some very colourful digital art pieces, which are currently on display in the office foyer and Art Room. They have also made some bright and bold Vietnamese dragons using a variety of media and art techniques.

A particular highlight of their work in Art this term has been their 'Big Face' portraits. We had a look at some portraits painted by Pablo Picasso and talked about the abstract style he painted some of these pieces in. Students had a go and drawing a 'zoomed in' portrait of themselves with large features, such as eyes and lips. They used black oil pastels for these outlines and then painted them with watercolour paints.

To finish them off, they added a beautiful frame which was decorated with some mosaic style 'bling'. Keep an eye out for these masterpieces on display at our upcoming Art Show later in the year.

Grade 4/5/6 ~ Vincent van Gogh and The Starry Night

The 4/5/6 students have been enjoying their integrated topic of Space Odyssey and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to link in with this topic by studying the beautiful painting 'The Starry Night' by Vincent van Gogh.

Students were so surprised to learn that Vincent van Gogh only sold 1 of his 900 paintings while he was still alive (The Red Vineyard). During his lifetime (he died aged 37) he struggled to make a living as an artist, but his brother Theo was his biggest fan and believed in Vincent and his talents and passion. After his death, Vincent van Gogh became one of the most famous artists in the world, capturing the minds and hearts of millions of art lovers.

We talked about the types of brush strokes van Gogh used in The Starry Night and how he created rhythm and movement in his painting. He painted this piece in 1889 while he was seeking treatment in a mental asylum. We found it fascinating that he painted this piece from memory.

The students enjoyed the process of sketching out their own Starry Night paintings and having a go and applying short, thick brush strokes. Movement was created by painting the sky and cypress tree in swirls, highlighted by shimmering stars.

Here are some finished masterpieces from Ella, Ava and Evie in 4/5A.

Some more by the very talented Atticus, Teig and Sasha in 4/5B.

And from 6C, some amazing work by Tayvia and Ella.

Grade 2/3s ~ Picasso Faces

Students were in awe as we looked at a collection of famous paintings by Pablo Picasso. They were particularly intrigued by his portraits of Dora Maar and Marie-Therese.  We talked about how these portraits didn't look like exact paintings of the two ladies - they were 'abstract' and their faces seemed to be divided up into shapes or sections.

We then discussed 'Cubism' and students were eager to have a go at drawing their own Picasso-style self-portrait (or 'selfie' as we called it!)

We began by drawing our faces with black permanent marker, using strong, sharp lines and geometric shapes. Some students chose to draw their eyes facing different directions.

Next, students coloured their faces into sections, using oil pastels.

Once they were all coloured, we used a cotton bud dipped in baby oil to smooth over one side of their face. The oil pastels looked lovely and smooth once the baby oil was applied, a bit like the texture of a texta or paint. The contrast of having one side smooth and one side rough was very effective.

Students' portraits looked so unique once they were all finished and they really enjoyed trying out a different style than they were used to. Well done on your willingness to try drawing in a style you may not be so comfortable with! Here are some portraits by Oscar, Josh S and Daniel.

 

And some more from Laila, Nyadeet and Leilani.

To learn more about Pablo Picasso (and to create your own Picasso Head) click here.

Preps ~ First Art lessons at Marlborough!

Our new Preparoonies have made quite the mark during their first Art lessons at Marlborough! What a talented and creative group they are. We have been exploring 3 books by Peter Reynolds during our lessons - 'The Dot', 'Ish' and 'Sky Colour'. They are part of his Creatrilogy series, where he reminds us, through his wonderful stories, to not be afraid of expressing ourselves. Each story celebrates the power of original thinking and creativity.

We really enjoyed sharing these stories, discussing ideas and then expressing ourselves through our own artworks. We began with 'The Dot' and used oil pastels to create concentric circles and filled them with a variety of marks, lines and patterns. Students were amazed when they painted over the oil pastel markings with watercolour paints and the pastels resisted the paint. Aren't they so bright and colourful! They look fantastic on display up in the office foyer and in the Art Room.

Our second lesson involved reading 'Ish' and discovering that it is far more wonderful to think and create 'ish-ly' rather than worrying about getting things perfect or exactly right. We made our own painted and crumpled pieces of paper, just like Ramon in the book, and let them dry ready to use for our following lesson.

Finally, we read the last book in the series called 'Sky Colour' and discussed how we could see the world in a new and more creative way. The sky does not always have to be painted blue! So, we painted our own beautiful skies and then added clouds made from the crumpled papers we made the week before.

And they turned out to be quite stunning, unique and colourful skies! Well done Preps!