Value Self-Portraits

We started off the year with a K-5 unit of self-portraits. This was 5th grades unit project. They started with photocopied images of themselves. The students learned about tints and shades and used them to create a value painting over top of the photocopy. Students were encouraged to add contrasting highlights and shadows to make the portrait pop. The portraits were then cut out and matted onto a "wordle" background. This was made of a design of words that describe each student.

Ode to Starry Night Mural

My art club recently finished this amazing 4ftx8ft mural with their version of Van Gogh's Starry Night. They enjoyed studying the "vibrations" and movement of the painting. We explored the way a painting can evoke an emotion. I have a great little coffee table book called "The Wisdom of a Starry Night" it shows paintings with a single question prompt. For this one we wrote about what wisdom we could find in this starry night. Some sample responses from my 4th and 5th graders were: "The stars in the sky remind me of how small we really are," "The bright starts remind me that my grandpa is always watching over me," it was a great reflective exersize to go with our mural.