Create your own "Wild Thing"

Update!
Delaney was able to complete her wild thing, so I get to add him. He is very wild! Love it. Some things that make this painting successful: the use of complimentary colors, the use of foreground and background, the quality of her brushstrokes. It just makes me happy. I appreciate the time she puts into each piece she creates. This painting turned out beautifully!
Delaney



So I am totally sorry about this everyone, but blogger is telling me my "images are corrupt," and the only picture it will let me post is this "wild thing" of Alyssa's. I guess the other wild things were just to wild for you all to see!

After studying Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" illustrations and working on our scratchboard pictures with my older class, I challenged the students to create their own "wild thing." I encouraged them to base the idea of their character on a person, animal, mood, or some sort of a theme. Each of the four were very different.

First they sketched their ideas, then completed a pencil drawing. They then transferred their drawings to canvas board and painted their pictures with acrillics. Below is their artwork. I LOVE 'em!
Alyssa's ballerina elephant. I believe this one was dedicated to her little sister Jocelyn. Very sweet. I love the roses on stage.

Mikayla's was a very wild, one-eyed teacher wild thing. Emma's was a scary and very wild autumn tree. And like I said, both were "corrupt," so perhaps I can remedy the situation at a later date. Also, Delaney's is coming along beautifully, but she has missed a couple classes due to performances of Le Mis that she has been involved in. I will post her's later on as well once she has been able to complete it.

Tribute to Piet Mondrian

For this assignment, we first talked about Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. His non-representational paintings are composed of lines and primary colors. We studied and imitated his designs using straight lines and bold blocks of color. They are completed in acrillic paint. The girls worked on two compositions, concentrating on the aspect of creating color schemes. The first using complimentary colors, and the second using tertiary colors. The girls used their color wheels which were previously completed to choose the colors for their pictures. They definitely are getting their practice in mixing colors and painting. Here are their finished pieces:
Alyssa


Arika

Delaney

Starting our first painting together

It would have been October 15th that we last met. Last week we didn't have class. I missed my girls and my teaching time with them!

For this project we are working with acrillic paint on stretched canvas. (How can you not feel like an artist when you paint on canvas?!) We talked about the theory of gestalt as it applies to artwork. It is the idea that the sum is greater than the parts, or that when a shape or form is repeated into a pattern or group, the piece as a whole is what makes the statement. A big concept to grasp, but these girls impress me with their understanding and willingness to dig right in and experiment artistically.

This painting will take several classes I am guessing, but here are some photos of the girls at work. (Alyssa we missed you ... hope your wrist is feeling better! You'll catch up though, no worries.)

Here is Kylie. She has primed her canvas and is tracing the stencil she created to design the pattern she will paint.

Here is our little set up in my craft room. It's cozy and the girls always have good stories to tell as they work ...

Here is a (very poor quality) photograph of a section of a painting I did in college. It was a study in gestalt and color. Like the painting I have assigned for the girls, I used a template in creating the design. Thought I would share it as it was partly inspiration for the paintings we are doing in class. (Wish I had a better image though - the colors in the original are much more vibrant.)

Stay tuned for more work-in-progress updates on this one!