California Missions

4th Grade learns and reviews watercolor techniques to mix different values of brown to render these beautifully drawn and painted Missions 3-Dimensionally!

Cezanne Still Life Collage

3rd grade should be introduced to not only shapes, but how shapes are 3-dimensional forms. I got this idea, again, from my fabulous colleague who did a similar lesson with her Art Club.

Solar Systems

5th Grade reviewed the solar system while learning about blending and shading to render a 3-Dimenstional form.

Edward Curtis Tee Pee Landscapes

4th grade learns about Native America! My favorite subject in grade school...Our 2nd study on value, and also contour, I thought Edward Curtis would be so perfect with his gold tone sepia photographs of native people, their environment and daily lives.

Cityscapes At Night

Teaching about value (bright or darkness of a color), is probably one of my favorite lessons to teach because it is one of the most iomportant fundamentals in art. Knowing about value, value change, and how light sources and time of day affect value, an artist will be able to make something structurally 3D, or appear to be. Value also gives comprehension to form or composition, and can also have implied symbolism.

Santa Clara Audubon Society Poster Contest - Burrowing Owl

The Santa Clara Audubon Society has a poster contest for their Education Day every year. I was given the flyer for this project and immediately knew I wanted my students to participate, because it will not only be educational, and raise awareness about threatened species in our County, but it will be FUN! It is a great opportunity for the classes to bond with each other and appreciate facets of nature that could use our help!

Mars the Red Planet

3rd grade is learning about the solar system, so I did a lesson tie-in by introducing the planet mars, landscapes, and how to create depth by adding tints (white) in increasing amounts as you go back into space, and shadows (shades). We used oil pastel on this awesome project.

Audubon Society Poster Contest - Red-Breasted Sapsucker

I cannot express how wonderful it is to excite a class with a contest! The Santa Clara County Audubon Society is having a poster contest for their Environment Education Day 2012, and winners will have their artwork put in their 2013 calendar!
My 5th grade class was an excellent candidate for this project, as it is a small class, so I can deliver lots of one-on-one with the students. I chose to do the Red-Breasted Sapsucker, a local woodpecker in the Santa Clara County.

Wild Cat Silhouette Landscapes

A lesson on shape, my small 5th grade class voted on what subject matter to do for this lesson. Wild cats, cats, cats! and more cats. So I modified a lesson to make them excited about this project.