A Glimpse of Istanbul

Another lovely notan, this time by one of my high school students

Every Once in a While…

I see a piece like this and I think, WOW!!!

Japanese Notans

A short project I did this month with middle school and a good way to explore the elements of shape, symmetry and space.

Parrot Drawings

I began this year teaching two elementary classes, which is a lot less than I taught last year. I have enjoyed the opportunity to once again to teach these students and I have lots of new ideas of exciting projects to try with them. I do not know how long I will have these classes, but I will enjoy it while it lasts.
We began the year with abstract guided drawing using the basic elements of line, shape and colour. It was a good exercise for the students in listening to instructions and seeing how the same instructions can be interpreted in different ways to achieve unique results. This lesson was followed up with another guided drawing lesson where we combined the elements to create a recognizable creature- a parrot. We used the same elements to create our own birds and added other overlapping details- branches, leaves, flowers and other creatures- to fill the page.
Adding colour to the drawings was an exercise in patience for many students. I had them cover all the white on the page using coloured pencils and then add final details- outlines and texture using markers. I am quite pleased with how they all turned out- each unique in their own way!

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Pattern Printing

To introduce my littlest ones to printmaking, we made pattern stamps by gluing foam shapes onto cardboard and then printing them with tempera paint. It may have been a little too ambitious of a project for me to attempt with this age group, but I had to give it a try!