Stained Glass-inspired Watercolor Paintings

Third and fourth mixed-grade homerooms looked at the art of Louis Comfort Tiffany, an artist known best for his work in stained glass, especially his lamps.

Tiffany loved the lower quality of glass from the bottling industry, full of bubbles and impurities.

These impurities led to a naturalism in his stained glass, full of more varied shades and tints.

One major focus of this project inspired by Tiffany's stained glass was to create a variety of tints and shades of at least one color.

Artists began with drawing vases of plants and flowers from life, including ones from the EES landscape such as ferns and crab apples.

Zooming in or out with hands as view-finders let students explore composition.

After the observations were completed, students added backgrounds and borders before moving into outlining with black glue.

When the glue dries, it leaves a raised surface that acts like a tiny retaining pool for the watercolor as it is applied.

 Some artists applied salt to create the bubbling, speckled effect of the glass.

In addition to traditional watercolors, these artists tried watercolor pencils as well, which are applied like a regular colored pencil then liquified with water on a brush.

Capturing Light on Pumpkins!

The first grade science curriculum’s light unit asks students to evidence their understanding of how to make a shadow, using a light source, object, and surface.  In Art class students are exploring this idea. Last year we painted trees in landscapes in support of showing their science knowledge.

We began by looking at objects under a flashlight. Artists noted how shadows always fall opposite the light source. After identifying that the things needed to create shadows, students began sketching their pumpkin and a light source on paper, then painting with shades of yellow, orange, and brown. We discussed how to blend the colors and paint in the direction of the curves of the pumpkin to show its form. Students worked to make their pumpkins look realistic by showing the light coming from a specific direction.

Tiny pencil sun with arrow to where the pumpkin would be brightest!

This artist chose a lightbulb instead of sun.These are how they looked at the end of the first class.

  At the start of the second class, students cut out the pumpkins and glued them to a background paper they selected. Artists used oil pastels to add light source, ground, and shadow.

In the third class, artists used cut paper collage to add faces, and could choose to add additional details with oil pastel.

This candlelit pumpkin emerged out of a whole spooky graveyard scene on the third class!

      It empowers first grade artists to "show what they know" about science through the making of an artwork- that is the essence of true integration of content!

   

Across each pumpkin, you can really see the visual evidence of how the color moves from sun to shadow with shaded transitions. As artists added a light source and a surface on which the pumpkin’s shadow would fall, and details and faces, true seasonal magic grew!

These are displayed on the first floor bulletin boards, stop by to see them anytime school is open.