Time to Draw!

This is the sketchbook that I made to keep my drawings in. It is made from paint and paste paper as well as paste and plain white paper. I used wallpaper paste to put the paste paper on the cover, and I bound the sketchbook using black necklace string. I used the primary colors blue and red to make purple and added black to make different shades of purple for the cover. I used lines to add movement to the cover as well as glitter to make it look like a twilight sky. This would be a very unique poetry book or sketchbook for kids to have as something that represents themselves on the outside as well as the inside for English class.

Pretty Butterflies

This is a collage made from different types of scrap paste paper and construction paper. The butterfly is removable from the cocoon. I made this piece in response to the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar written and illustrated by Eric Carle. This piece shows that all butterflies and children are beautiful. I used the concept of color to chose shades of green for leaves and other tertiary colors, such as purple, for the cocoon. This project could be used to teach colors and shapes. It could also be used to teach children to count, like when the caterpillar in the book eats one item, then two, then three, and so on. It could also be used in a science class to teach children about butterflies. The possibilities with this book, and project extension, are endless!

Can You See the Elephant?

This is a drawing that I did of an elephant in blue colored pencil with warm-colored patterns over the top; so, when you view the picture with red cellophane glasses you can easily find the elephant. I used repeated patterns to make the elephant even harder to see. This would be very interesting to use in the classroom to teach children about color blindness and show how some people see certain colors as all one shade. It could also be used in math as a counting project, such as count the number of triangles, count the number of red triangles, count the number of yellow circles, and many others.

My Fingerpaint Version of Starry Night

Alyssa's Starry Night

Once upon a time, there lived a young boy who could never do anything right. One evening his parents became so upset with him for not doing his chores correctly, they sent him outside. While outside, he walked up a hill and saw a beautiful sight. He decided to paint what he saw. When he was done painting, he showed his parents, who then showed the whole town - - the boy had finally done something right!

This project could be used in an English class by giving students art supplies and having them illustrate their stories. It could also be used by having students try to reproduce a famous painting (with some differences) and having them write a story about it.

Line Movement

Moving Lines

I created this artwork to show movement with lines. I used yarn, pipe cleaners, and hemp on a felt background to show lines moving and twisting and untwitsting as well as moving from one corner to spread and flow over the felt. I used different hues of blue and brown to also show movement in the color of the lines.

This project could be used to teach children to count in math by giving the students a certain number of shapes and telling them they must use them to create a project using principles and elements of art.

Footprints

My Footprint

This is a representation of myself as a footprint. Every piece on it represents something about me or something that I love. The heel is a page from a book because I love to read. The magazine picture of wolves and the drawing of a lion are mascots of schools I have attended. The drawing of the dragon represents my favorite mythological animal. The shiny orange sparkles are my name in Elfish, because I love the Lord of the Rings. The "passport" and ticket stub represent the places that I have gone as well as the concerts I have been to. "Oz" on my toe represents my favorite movie of all time, The Wizard of Oz. The lines represent the fact that I like to doodle. Finally, the cut out magazine letters on the foot spell my name.

This project could be used in a classroom to have students teach each other, about differences that exist between eachother as well as introduce themselves.

Claude Monet
Water Lilies
1906

Description:

He used different textures and small dots to create smooth-looking water and rough-looking plant life. He also used lines and different values of green in the water to make your eyes move from one part of the painting to another. He used mostly cool colors with pink and red variations as well as yellow for contrast. Finally, he used different shapes (such as circles and organic shapes) to form water lilies and lily pads.

Analysis:

He used circles and organic shapes of green to form lily pads against a blue and green water background that moves your eyes throughout the piece. The red/pink variations, as well as the yellow variations that compose the lilies in the piece, also cause movement, because they make you look from lily to lily.

Interpretation:

I believe that this is an oil painting of water lilies that was created as a calming, soothing painting of lilies.

Judgement:

I believe that this piece was a success because it is a calming, soothing painting of water lilies. It looks like water that is barely moving and is peacefully harboring the lilies.

Other:

This type of project could be used in the classroom as an "icebreaker" to introduce children to criticizing their own and each other's artwork and may also be used as a part of English, because a teacher could use it to grade students' spelling and grammar.