Sgraffito Thanksgiving Corn

Sgraffito,  (Italian: “scratched”), in the visual arts, a technique used in painting, pottery, and glass, which consists of putting down a preliminary surface, covering it with another, and then scratching the superficial layer in such a way that the pattern or shape that emerges is of the lower colour. - from the Encyclopedia Britannica

Sgraffito is a very old technique our 4/5 students used to create these Thanksgiving Indian corn pieces. After using simple lines to draw an ear of corn with black sharpie, students colored in the corn with crayon in warm, bright colors. Backgrounds used complementary colors (opposite on the color wheel) to create a strong contrast. A layer of thick black oil pastel then covered the entire piece. Imagine how hard that was to do; covering your brightly colored artwork with black pastel! Yet that step is what makes this technique possible. Using a pointed wooden stick, the top layer is scraped of to reveal the color beneath. The best results are achieved when the direction of the scratches are varied to create visual interest. (Thanks to Kathy Barbro at Art Projects for Kids for this project idea.)

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Chalk and Glue Autumn Leaves

Here's another leaf project inspired by our beautiful New England landscape. This time we added a twist by drawing leaf shapes in glue on black construction paper. It was easier than it might sound if you've never done it before. The trick is to use only perfectly unclogged bottles of glue. That required a thorough cleaning of 22 bottles of much-used school glue, but the results are worth the time spent. After practicing a bit to ensure steady hands, our students drew their favorite leaf shape taken from the piles we had available to view.

(Luckily, there is no shortage of leaves right now in my yard!)

After the glue dried clear, only black lines remained. Students then selected two to three colors of chalk pastels to add to the leaves, blending the colors as they went. If they could see the black paper after blending, they added more chalk. The last step was to color the backgrounds using complementary colors, or colors on the opposite side of the color wheel from their leaf colors. Doing this creates the most contrast and made their leaves really "pop" off the page. Many of the pieces show the intense color chalk pastels are capable of, and some show off more delicate color schemes. I think they are all spectacular. Click on any image to see more of these beautiful designs.

Colorful Crayon Resist Leaves

Fall in New England is such a visual delight that it always inspires terrific art projects. Our 2/3 class studied oak, birch and maple leaves, and used them to create these gorgeous pieces. They first drew their favorite leaf on black paper using crayon, carefully following their leaf outline and being sure to add the veins. I asked them to also draw some straight lines out from their leaves to the edge of the paper to break up the background. After adding their choice of colors to the inside of the leaf, they used watercolor paint to fill in the background spaces. The crayon lines "resist" the watercolor. Aren't the results beautiful? Click on any image to see more leaves.

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Fuzzy Spiders

Our K/1 class learned how to draw a spider web by criss-crossing four lines in the center of their paper, then connecting them with ever-widening circles that looped around the center point. They used a range of colors to decorate their web, then created fuzzy spiders to dwell within them. Click on the image to see more fuzzy friends!

Pop-Up Haunted Houses

Pop-up construction is always fun for students to create. Using just a bit of construction paper, a few strategic folds and cuts and some creativity, these haunted houses came to life in our art room for Halloween. Click on any image to see more spooky shacks.

Batik Pumpkins

I love the art of batik and the colorful cloth it produces, but the traditional hot wax and dye process can be difficult to do in a classroom. Our 4/5 class used a modified form of batik to create these colorful pumpkins, then added some leaf prints in gold and silver to finish their designs. 

After closely studying pumpkins we brought into our classroom, students practiced making contour drawings to gain understanding of their shape and form. They carefully drew their own pumpkins using warm fall colors in crayon, the wax part of the process. The drawings were crumpled up to brake up the surface of the crayon, but not tear the paper. The pumpkins were then completely covered in black tempera paint in place of traditional dye, and the paint was wiped off the surface. The black paint stayed only in the areas where the crayon surface had been broken up. The results are shown below, aren't they great? Click on any image to get to the picture gallery for closer viewing.

 

Fall Leaf Monoprints

Fall is such a great time to make use of materials from nature in our artwork. Recently our sixth grade class used fallen leaves to make these beautiful monoprints. The backs of the leaves were covered lightly with metallic tempera paint, then pressed onto paper. When the leaves were removed they left lovely detailed prints showing their delicate stucture. Students then used sponges to paint around the leaves. When dry they filled in the leaf prints with colored pencil to finish. The results are wonderful, don't you think? Please click on any image to get to the picture gallery. 

We Are Art Smart!

 I'm going back in time a bit to talk about our very first art project this year. Seventh and eighth grade students colored individual quarter-sized sheets of paper I had preprinted with outlined letters. The students had no idea what letters they were working on, but were instructed to use complementary colors and their imaginations to decorate their pieces. When we put the pieces together the letters spelled "We Are Art Smart." The project gave me a chance to assess the skill level of each student and discuss what it means to be "Art Smart." My students had fun working with their favorite colors and patterns, and as a bonus, the banner looks great hanging in our art room!

Falling Leaves

One last leaf project this fall. Students love to paint, and grade 6 students enjoyed blending paint on paper to create backgrounds for "falling leaves" silhouettes.

We looked at photographs of blue skies and sunsets, observing how cool blues dominate daytime skies while warm colors appear at sunset. Using only blue, purple and white or yellow, red and white paint, students blended the colors directly on 12" x 18" white sulphite paper to create their backgrounds. They then drew or traced leaves from nature and cut them out from black construction paper to create the leaf silhouettes. After adding veins and outlining the leaves with metallic markers, they glued them onto their backgrounds. The composition was important, and the artists strived to create the look of the leaves falling through space against their skies. Click on any image to get to the picture gallery.

Chalk Pastel Leaves

Seventh and eighth grade students drew leaves from nature, taking care to see and recreate the veins in the leaf structure. Working on black construction paper, they drew larger-than-life leaves that filled up the space for a dramatic composition.

Choosing either a warm or cool color scheme, they selected three colors of chalk pastels. Working from the veins toward the leaf edge, the students put down color and then blended. Adding additional chalk was often required to fully cover the black paper. The last step was to outline the leaves and veins with metallic marker. The results were spectacular! Clicking on any image brings your to the picture gallery and lots more images.