Art Lesson: Rectangle of Destiny

 

Lesson for 9th grade, 6 weeks, acrylics or gouache

Above: Kotoko and Maxine develop their paintings, inspired by the styles and colors inside their rectangles. Students did a few days of color mixing exercises at the start of this project. Beyond color mixing, they leveled-up their composition skills and visual storytelling skills during this project.

Art Lesson: Botanical Abstract Paintings

Lesson for 9th or 10th, 5 weeks, acrylic

20 More Days of Portraiture

 

Lesson for 9th grade,  15-20 days, charcoal on toned paper, drawn freehand

By now the students had made 7 practice drawings (described in Part 1), and they were ready for the big one. It was on toned paper. They used paper towel for blending and sometimes a small, dry watercolor brush. They'd first hatch, then blend with brushes. They didn't project or use grids (because grids are slow, tedious, and don't boost the students skills as much as my process does). Students just applied their facial proportion lessons, and here you can see the results.

20 days is a nice round number, but they took 17 I think. During that time, I kept repeating the commandment: Edges, not outlines! Outlines would have made drawings like these look amateurish. The students sidestepped that landmine and produced successful works. 4 students showed me photos of where they framed and hung these drawings in their homes.

When I run this project again, I'll be more insistent that students avoid close-up photo references that distort their faces.

Art Lesson: Candles (MS)

Lesson for 7th grade, oil pastel plus white and peach acrylic on large black paper