My Neighbourhood

The children were asked to share with one another what were some of the images they thought of when given the word 'Neighbourhood'.

People, buildings, shops, traffic light, basket ball court, playground, cars, LRT, coffeeshop, trees, cats, dogs, roads, supermarket...

Using the textured paper that they created from the previous lesson, 

the children had to create a collage of their little neighbourhood using basic mediums

 such as oil pastel and water colour.

The children had to first draw out the form of their buildings using basic shapes.

After cutting the buildings out, they were given an option to stick it on either white or black paper.

They could then use water colour for the background.

 Isaac wanted his buildings to look like fish as his neighbourhood was going to be underwater.

"My building looks like a snowman. It will not melt easily as the ice is packed very tightly together

 and the weather is always very cold."

 "My building looks like a pineapple because 

that is my favourite fruit!"

 "I want to have a big swimming pool outside my house so that I can go swimming everyday."

 Lines were used to represent wind in the two artworks below. 

Notice how the lines are used differently in each art piece.

Artwork 1

Water colour was then added to create a more dramatic look.

Artwork 2

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"I wanted to draw God, but I don't know how God looks like so I drew an angel. I drew and angel because I wanted God to look pretty" (It's interesting how children usually associate angels with beauty).

"I also drew a devil because there will always be a devil when there is an angel."

 "This is my Crazy Park. The top is hell while the bottom is heaven." 

The places are switched because this park is CRAZY! "

Notice how the stars are represented using lines, dots and colours.

Piet Mondrian Lesson 2

Part 1
Recap:

- Drawing with what we see and not what we know. Keeping our eyes on the object that we are drawing.

- What is Impression? Derives from the word 'Impression'- the artist impression of what he sees, using natural lighting and quick and short brush strokes.

Piet Mondrian's Progression (images from Google.com)

Impressionism

Cubism 

Abstract

Based on the topic 'Trees' which was similar to the previous project, the pupils were challenged to create a version of an abstract tree using the following material.

1) Chinese Calligraphy Ink

2) Poster Paint

3) a Straw and a sponge

Step-by Step:

1) Using a sponge, pupils are to use either warm or cool colours to sponge the background.

Click on the video to watch our children in action!

Notice how some of them apply the paint onto the sponge (using a brush!). 

The reason given was because they didn't want to mix and 'dirty' the colours that were in the palette

...how considerate! :)

When asked why didn't he use the sponging technique, Shaun was quick to reply that he did.
However, he didn't like the effect that it gave and preferred just 'painting' with the sponge
as it "covered up all the white spaces."

Part 2: Creating the Tree
The children had to create their abstract tree using a straw, their mouth and some Chinese ink.

Part 3: Adding in the Leaves
Using their finger prints, the children had to create leaves using the colours Red, Blue and Yellow.

When asked why didn't she use Red and Yellow for the leaves...
"The background is already red and yellow. 
That is why the leaves are blue." - Isabelle

Isabelle found a way to make her finger prints look like leaves- By using the side (top) of her pinkie!

We did it!! :)

Piet Mondrian Lesson 1

Big Idea: Artist Appreciation

Enduring Understandings:

Pupils will learn about art history and the works of famous artists, 

recognising the different mediums and techniques used.

 Pupils will also understand how interpretations may differ 

although the themes and concerns are similar.

Introduction to the artist, Piet Mondrian

The pupils were given a short introduction to the artist Piet Mondrian and the progression of his works.

 Refer to the links below for more information.

http://makingartfun.com/htm/f-maf-art-library/piet-mondrian-biography.htm

http://artsmarts4kids.blogspot.sg/2007/12/piet-mondrian.html

Piet Mondrian's earlier works

Mondrian’s first paintings depicted scenes found in real life. They were done in a style similar to impressionism. As his style grew and changed, he stopped using any colors besides the three primaries: red, yellow, and blue. The painting shown below is Avond. This is the first painting in which Mondrian used only primary colors but you can still see the influence of impressionism.

(Extracted from http://artsmarts4kids.blogspot.sg/2007/12/piet-mondrian.html)

Some pupils were then selected to draw their representation

 of a tree on the white board.

After the pupils drew their versions of what they thought a tree looked like, the rest of the class were asked to list down the characteristics of a tree.

Characteristics of a tree (listed by pupils and teacher):

Trunk, leaves, branches, twigs, flowers, fruits, roots, soil, needs sunlight and minerals to grow, gives shade when it is hot, shouldn't stand under a tree when it rains.

At the end of this simple activity, everyone agreed that what the 4 pupils drew had certain characteristics of a tree. However, it did not look like a real tree. 

This was then an opportunity to teach them about 'Drawing with what we see and not what we know'. I further explained that many a times, we tend to draw what we know and not focus on what we see, hence the difference between our drawing and the real thing. Thus, the challenge for the children for that lesson was to go out to the Eco garden, observe the different trees and to try to draw what they see with their eyes fixed on the object.

After the children finished drawing out the structure of the tree, they went back to class 

to add their personal touches using water colour.

Children's Reflections:
Randall: "It's very hard to draw trees."
Shaun: "It's very dirty when you use oil pastels."
Benjamin: "We learn to draw what we see and not what we know. The blending of the water colour was quite hard."
Vionn: "How we draw trees now is very different from how we drew"