Oil Pastel Self Portraits- 4th Grade

We are learning how to draw our portraits with good proportion of eyes, mouth, nose, etc. We used two sided mirrors to view our eye and nose shapes.

Adding our hairline, bangs and ears.

The next class we tested different colors to make our skin color. We added shading and cheek color on top of the base color.

Then we decided our hair colors, and eye colors.

Each student chose a background and color theme to use.

We used oil pastels for the medium. We learned how to blend the colors in the face and hair.

Middle Ages Castles- 4th grade

Fourth Grade is learning about middle ages and we drew our own castle in art class

First we used a few cardboard templates for the front of the castle and some of the towers. We talked about how to draw an elipse at the top so it looked rounded and 3D.

Students could draw the castle longways or tall holding their paper portrait style. We learned about crenellations on the top of the towers and wall.  These shapes allow for the archers to hide while protecting the castle.

Next we learned how to draw blocks of the castle by alternating each row.  Gray oil pastels were used for the castle or art stix if they wanted to add color.

We read Mrs. Frizzles castle adventure to learn how the castles use different defenses against attacks. Students could add porticos, moats, knights and horses, shields and many other creative elements.

They all came out so different!

Oil Pastel Abstract O'Keefe Paintings and poems

This was our fundraiser project for the year. Sixth graders learned about blending oil pastel and adding shades and tints.

I had photos of closeups of flowers that we used a viewfinder to further enlarge the flower part. I stressed that the edges of petals should not be drawn to get an abstract look.

Students could choose any colors they wanted.  We talked about georgia okeefe used a lot of analogous colors in her paintings.

Next the students wrote a poem about their painting. They were supposed to imagine what the painting might look like. We used cinquain style of poem.

4th grade self portraits

We began our self portraits after viewing some Portraits of American painters. We viewed several portraits of Washington and one of Paul Revere.

SIXTH GRADE Oil Pastel O'Keefe Flowers

We learned about Georgia O'Keefe large abstract like flower paintings. This was our Square one art fundraiser project. This helps fund supplies for the art room.

We used viewfinders and photographs of different flowers to choose our drawing.

I stressed pushing the pastels to blend them in the direction of the petals.  Shading and combining colors added to the effect.

Here you can see the viewfinder.

Lastly, each student wrote a poem about what their flower looked like in the cinquain style.

One option was to add dew drops to the petals.

Large Flowers O keefe Style

Here are the beautiful finished flowers the 6th grade completed. They also wrote a Cinquain poem to go with their individual painting. We received many comments from the teachers as they were hanging in the hall. Time to mail them into square one art.

The students used viewfinders to limit their scope of view of the flower they chose. Gardening magazines and catalogs were a good source. We learned about blending and pushing the oil pastels to blend them.