Haunted House Prints

These were made in October, but never got around to posting the pictures. But I absolutely adore these little house prints. 1st grade took a look at Victorian homes with their peaks, round windows and towers. They immediately thought they looked like haunted houses and lucky for them, the pictures progressed to some spooky looking ones.

Using chalk pastel, students created a colorful background of either warm or cool colors. I had them lighted spray them with water and blend with a tissue. We then added a bit more chalk onto our papers. While a clear coat of fixative dried, we moved onto our haunted houses. They were carved into foam, cut out and them printed. I love the detail they added, and even the little ghosts peaking out of windows on some of them.
 

Geometric vs. Organic

It's Geometric vs. Organic Shapes here in 1st grade! Well discovering these different categories of shapes we learned about two different artists. Piet Mondrian and Henri Matisse. We discovered that Mondrian loved using the Primary colors: Red, Blue and Yellow, while Matisse used both Primary and Secondary colors! Mondrian used geometric shapes while Matisse used organic! However, both loved listening to jazz music while creating their artwork. In fact, Mondrian named one of his paintings Broadway Boogie Woogie! So of course we had to listen to some boogie woogie and jazz while creating ours!

Sumi Ink Painting: 1st Grade

First grade “traveled” to Asia to study traditional sumi ink painting. Artists there practice for many years, and work with very controlled brush strokes. We then discussed value: lights and darks and others in between. If we add more water to our ink, it gets lighter, the less water, the darker the ink will be. To sign our work we made our own “chops” or seals. We discovered we had to write our initials backwards so they would print forwards.

Monet Waterlilies: 1st Grade

First grade explored the garden and work of Claude Monet. He had a large, beautiful garden you can still visit today and which you can see in many of his paintings. We learned hat he was an expressionist painter. Expressionists painted with quick and tiny brushstrokes. We then painted our own water lilies (one of his favorite subjects), learning about highlights and shadows as well as perspective. Things farther away are smaller than things closer to you.