Art at Hosmer

Thursday, February 1, 2018

David Hockney Inspired Countryside Landscapes

After our Romare Bearden inspired mixed media collage cityscapes, 4th grade artists looked at and discussed the colorful countryside landscapes of British artist, David Hockney. We looked at a few examples of his landscape paintings, including the one below.

David Hockney, North Yorkshire (1997)

Students noticed that in comparison to the urban cityscape, Hockney's country landscapes had a lot more fields, hills, trees and details like bales of hay. Students also noticed that Hockney used some very bright colors that are not necessarily natural to a landscape. In the painting above, many students thought the purple lines represented a river, while others thought it was a road. Students also noticed that Hockney included different lines, patterns and textures to add interest to the landscape. Even areas that are all green contain different marks to show the texture of the grass.

Students spent one class exploring color mixing, mixing different colors by combining two colors together, then three colors together, and even four. We noticed that when you mixed four colors together, they often got a little muddy. Students thought about colors they might want to use in their landscape painting.

The following class, students sketched out their own countryside landscape, focusing on using lines to create different areas for color. They painted in the different areas of their landscape, mixing their own colors and including at least one tint, or a color mixed with white. Students referred to their color mixing experiments to help mix new colors.

After this layer of paint dried, during the following class we added patterns on top of the different areas, such as stripes, polka dots, and various lines and shapes. We talked about complementary colors and how you might use these colors for the patterns to help provide contrast with the background color.

Using smaller brushes, students also added details such as trees, houses, animals, cars, clouds, etc. We talked about how using the smaller brushes can really help with painting small details and sometimes it is about choosing the right tools for the job to make it easier. Students used many different colors and patterns and included details such as animals, barns, trees and fences. Below are examples of our colorful David Hockney inspired landscape paintings.

Artem, 4th Grade (Mattson)

Ethan, 4th Grade (Mattson)

Evey, 4th Grade (Doherty)

Tatiana, 4th Grade (Mattson)

Zarisha, 4th Grade (Doherty)

Desmond, 4th Grade (Graves)

Destanie, 4th Grade (Cikacz)

Gavin, 4th Grade (Graves)

Gustavo, 4th Grade (Doherty)

Jackie, 4th Grade (Cikacz)

Jayden, 4th Grade (Graves)

Maya, 4th Grade (Graves)

Meba, 4th Grade (Mattson)

Pavlos, 4th Grade (Graves)

Sofia, 4th Grade (Mattson)

Vardges, 4th Grade (Doherty)

Monday, January 22, 2018

Snowmen at Night Chalk Pastel Drawings

Hope everyone enjoyed their snow days earlier this month! After learning about using value to show a three-dimensional form in their personal object still life drawings, 5th grade artists applied the same concept using chalk pastels. We looked closely at the illustrations in the book, Snowmen at Night, to inspire our own sketches for what our snowmen (or snow people) could be doing. Some ideas we came up with included making snow angels, skiing, snowboarding, snowball fights, and playing hockey.

In their sketch, students had to show some sort of action, and include a light source, whether it was the moon, a lamp, or a fire. Using their sketch to guide them, students then used chalk pastel to draw their own snowmen at night scene on larger colored paper. We discussed how to use other colors in combination with white to create a three-dimensional appearance to the snow.

We noticed that the illustrations in the book included many colors in addition to white to represent snow. For the areas of shadow, we used different shades of blue, purple, black and gray. For the areas of highlight, we used yellows and oranges to show light hitting a surface. This all depended on the light source in each student's work, and which side of the snowman was closest to it. (Most) students enjoyed blending the soft pastel with their finger to blend colors together and fill in shapes.

The following classes, we focused on adding details to the snowmen as well as the background. Students got creative with their details, adding faces, winter accessories likes hats and scarves, trees, and even snow animals. We talked about how to add the shading and highlight to those details, such as the carrot nose or a top hat. Students also considered different ways to approach the sky, whether it was adding snowflakes, stars, etc.

Below are some examples of our snowmen at night drawings. Two students' drawings were featured on the December winter concert program and some of our other snowmen at night drawings will be on display in the glass case downstairs soon!

Aiden, 5th Grade (Twomey)

Arthur, 5th Grade (Bellis)

Ava, 5th Grade (Psychoghios)

Bianca, 5th Grade (Psychoghios)

Breanna, 5th Grade (Twomey)

Daniel, 5th Grade (Bellis)

Dorie, 5th Grade (Psychoghios)

Elen, 5th Grade (Twomey)

Kate R., 5th Grade (Psychoghios)

Kiran, 5th Grade (Bellis)

Max H., 5th Grade (Bellis)

Nolan, 5th Grade (Twomey)

Pirada, 5th Grade (Twomey)

Rose, 5th Grade (Bellis)

Sila, 5th Grade (Bellis)

Sol, 5th Grade (Psychoghios)

Jaylyn, 5th Grade (Twomey)

Brady, 5th Grade (Domermuth Fantasia)

Yassemine, 5th Grade (Domermuth Fantasia)

Caroline A., 5th Grade (Domermuth Fantasia)

Oliver, 5th Grade (Domermuth Fantasia)

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Snowy Day Collages

Inspired by this winter weather, PK and Kindergarten artists recently created snowy day artworks. Kindergarten students began by creating collages of houses, adding a tree or car or another house next to it. We began by remembering how we make a collage, cutting out different shapes to create a picture of a house or multiple houses.

We thought carefully about details to add to our houses, including windows, doors, roofs, and chimneys. PK students drew their houses and trees using oil pastels, thinking about shapes to use for different parts of their house.

After finishing their houses, we read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Many students were already familiar with the book, which follows a boy named Peter as he explores his neighborhood on a snowy day. After listening to the story, students used white paint to add snow to their picture.

Using a brush, students painted on top of their houses, added snow to the ground and also dotted paint to create snow falling from the sky. Some students created very snowy days and even some blizzards! Take a look at some of our artworks below.