Cezanne Inspired Still-Life with Fruit

I've been teaching this lesson for the last couple of years and I keep changing it. This year I really focused on getting the kids to 'draw' the actual still-life, instead of letting them invent a still-life by tracing circles. I think drilling this early is going to make a big difference...

Day One:
We define "still-life" in our idea books. They draw a still-life on their own (pre-assessment) then I draw it with them. We compare our drawings and see who was using their "artist eyes" to really observe the objects.

Then I let them trace a plate to get a big circle...and then they draw the fruit and paint with warm colors.

Day Two:
We write about contrasting colors in our idea books then draw two columns...one side warm colors and the other cool colors. Then we draw a pattern for our "table" on our painting from day one. They get to paint with cool colors to show contrast. I like to talk about how "water is your friend" when you are painting....as a result, they create some value without really knowing it. So they're paintings have a little more depth. I have also started letting them use the smaller, nicer brushes...so those little brushstrokes look really nice.

Here is a really nice painting...not a still life at all...but hey, if the art teacher can't appreciate a good painting, then why are we here? 

Day Three: Adding shadows and highlights. 

I got the oil pastels out to bring some "definition" to these paintings...cause I guess I can't live without line. We added some extra pizazz/patterns/designs. Then I demonstrated how to do an "easy shadow" and a quick highlight...we outlined in black to bring some more boldness to our paintings. 

Overall...some of my favorite still-lifes yet.

Non-objective Paintings with 3rd

I love doing this painting project with 3rd grade at the end of the year. We mix a tint or shade on day one for the background using a cool color base. The next class we paint the concentric shapes with warm colors to create contrast. They always look so festive in the hallways.

If you only had one day for this project, drawing the concentric cirlces/shapes with a black oil pastel on that background looks really cool. I almost wanted them to leave them black and white!

We had some nice conversations about Kandinsky’s paintings. We discussed creating order out of chaos and how it can be hard to not “see things” in abstract/non-objective paintings. I was trying to get them to appreciate simply the elements of art…so we focused on line, shape, color and value for this project.

Kindergarten Paints Lines with Kandinsky!

      Well, my kinders are following directions well so far this year! I've also learned how to let go of some expectations, and just let the art happen...because it's going to, no matter how much I try to control it!

      I've been cramming tons of vocab into these little sponges and here's a list of what I'm pretty sure they KNOW:

Line

horizontal, vertical, diagonal, zig-zag, spiral, wavy, free form

Shape

circle, square, rectangle, triangle, oval, octagon, star, crescent

Pattern

Variety (ooh la la)

Contrast (yes, i know...)

Watercolor/ Paintbrush/ Water cup/ Painting

KANDINSKY!

and....

ABSTRACT ART

  {   Like I said, I've been cramming these words everyday and they are saying them, so I'm assuming they know what they mean at this point.  :o) }

Here they are painting using watercolors...

painting contrasting colors over oil pastels...using a variety of colors
{oil pastel resist}

     Here's some of their finished line paintings and I'll add some of the shapes with patterns soon! They are getting painted this week!

Zander

Gracie-Mae

Angela