Monet's Waterlily Collage

First grade created these collages inspired by Monet's waterlily paintings. First we observed several of Monet's artworks and discussed how he painted outside. We discussed the importance of light and how Monet would paint the same subject several times at different times to see how the sunlight affected the colors of his subjects. The girls looked closely at his painting style and the colors he used to make the water. They used watercolor to make their own water and blended several cool colors to create a dimensional background. After the water was dry, they made lily pads out of construction paper and used tissue to make the lilies. 

Warm/Cool Color Weaving

Third grade used painted paper to create these weavings. They were asked to paint one paper with warm colors, and one with cool colors; one was a circular format and one was a striped. The striped painting was woven into the circular painting. 

Watercolor Landscapes with Patterns

Fourth grade had great success with this landscape project. First the class looked at a few examples of landscapes, and we discussed how the parts closest to the viewer seemed to overlap parts farther away. The girls were asked to interpret each component of their landscape however they liked, but they were required to follow the order I gave them. The order given to them was: flowers, water, hills, mountains, sun. Patterns and details were added throughout the drawing, just to make the viewer's eye move around the artwork. Sharpies were used to draw over the pencil drawing, and watercolor was laid over the final drawing.

Air-Dry Clay Birds

Forth grade girls were given a lump or air dry clay and made birds. They learned how to score and slip to join pieces together and painted the birds after they dried with tempera cakes. If they had left-over clay, they could make details like nests or babies.

Paul Klee Buildings

Second grade created these colorful abstracts of buildings using construction paper crayons. After looking at several works by Paul Klee and learning a bit about his life, students used rulers and pencils to draw vertical lines that would become the buildings. They used the width of the ruler, which is about one inch. Negative space was also discussed and the girls were encouraged to make the tops of the buildings end at different points, as well as adding triangles in a few areas. Each "tower" was then divided up into squares and then some squares were filled with "x's" or straight division lines. The whole drawing was outlined in black crayon and then each space was filled with construction paper crayons.