1-Micrography 2-Shell Composition 3-Watercolor

1- Micrography

Basic Steps: 1. First, a photograph is taken of each student and printed out for their guides. Also a worksheet was given out where they needed to list 40 POSITIVE characteristics about themselves.

2. Trace all major outlines of the face. Include neck, shoulders, eye brows, hair lines. Avoid doing individual teeth and emphasize to not draw a triangle around the nose. Students usually want to draw a whole shape for their nose because they mentally know there is a nose there, but it is good to point out that we don't see a shape around our nose like our eyes or mouth. A contour line drawing can be done on tracing paper or directly on the photographic image.

3. NOW we trace the contour line onto a "good piece of paper" either using a light box or a window.

4. Fill in with words! The actual lines (ex. neck, chin) are just written on with words. Students will start to notice the smaller the letters and the less space between, the more "filled in" the image appears. This part is all done with pencil.

5. Next step is to extra fine point sharpie over the words.

Visual Arts Standard: Observe and Learn to Comprehend

Students can describe and demonstrate how the incorporation of meaningful words is an expressive feature, and can contribute to the aesthetic value of the piece.

2- Shell Composition Drawing

Project Goals: The students will learn to draw form from life. The elements of art will be explored when drawing the different shells. Students will apply previous knowledge when creating implied textures and try to achieve successful shell compositions.

Work in Progress:

First, students drew shells and sea stars from life using graphite on 8 1/2" x 11" paper. Then, on their larger, final paper, they drew a composition of five to six shells and sea stars, and applied different patterns and implied textures in a contour fashion.

The student Shell Composition Description Sheet is attached below.

3- Watercolor

First, the students learned about the principles of the color wheel, and then mixed the primaries to create a color wheel. Finally, learning was put to practice when the students created their own paintings.

Catching a moment with watercolors. These are a few of the exceptional works. All students were taught skills on blending colors, creating tints and shades, and various paint techniques. The students were asked to catch a moment outside in just two days time. With such tight constraints, it was exciting to see such excellent work.

Visual Arts Standards: Invent and Discover to Create

Students can create works of art from observation, photographs and stored mental images.

Seventh and Eighth Grade Level Expectation: Restructure and apply the technical skills and processes required to achieve desired results.