Student Works--Fruits

In my last few posts I've been sharing the teaching process behind the Figure Unit being presented in my AP Studio Art classes.  Featured above are a sampling of the fruit paintings which I mentioned in the last post.  I chose to have the students spend a few days painting simple forms in order to prep them for the painting the figure. The focus was on color mixing and better acquainting themselves with the handling of acrylics along with really studying form.  We talked about shapes, not only of the fruits but of the areas of color around the fruit made through the light and shadows.
Currently they're painting the figure and doing a fine job!  Tomorrow is the last day of painting, so pics will be posted soon.

Student Work --- Figure Drawing Unit

We've spent the last few weeks studying the figure in my AP Studio Art class. We started with quick gesture drawings and worked up to longer sessions with the model.  The students spent about 2 hours on these drawings.  I feel like a proud mother showing off their work...I am proud of them!  These kids are the cream of the crop and I'm so pleased with the results of this unit so far. After we finished these drawings,  I set up simple fruit arrangements for acrylic painting studies.  Inspired by blogger Lisa Daria's compositions, we painted fruit for two days.  The sole intention was:

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  seeing value and developing form
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   color mixing
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  zooming in on the subject matter

The compositions were painted on toned ragboard.  While not 100% visually dynamic, the goals were reached.  I saw the students mixing colors in a broad range of values and hues and the compositions were interesting.  

After studying fruit forms, the students are back to figure work;  my hope being that they'd bring what they'd learned painting fruits to the figure work.  They're painting the figure using acrylics, successfully developing form and good compositions.  So far, so good!  The real plus is the kids are really enjoying the painting process.  The paintings will be posted as soon as they're done.   

Skeleton in the Classroom

This friendly fellow (seems male to me, don't know why) is part of a still life that is set up for my AP Studio Art Students.  I decided to work alongside the students.

What I re-learned....Sketetons are hard to draw!!

The one on the top is done in watercolor and oil pastel on gessoed backing board and the Smiling Fellow  is done in waterbased oils and oil pastel.

Portraits

Recently I taught a unit on portraits to my AP Studio Art class. It's fun when I get the chance to work alongside the kids. It's a symbiotic experience, they love to see their teacher create and I love creating with them. These are a few of the sketches I did, they're colored pencil on backing board.


This student is a highly expressive, messy artist. She produces works that use many media and are textural with phenomonal points of view. I envy her compositional sensibility that is incredibly strong.


This student is a lover of poetry,(e.e. cummings) music and LIFE. She looks older than 18 yrs old here. Her hair is thick and curly, and she has a strong beautiful nose. She works in oil pastel and has them mastered. Her concentration portfolio for the AP Exam is all self portrait. I'm intriqued with how she has nailed herSELF. Each piece she does truly speaks of her inner self.


Last we have this lovely student. She loves to paint flowers. She works wonderfully in pastels and she's getting a nice handle on oils. She recently finished a self portrait that is excellent. Below is her hand, she was holding a palette as she was painting a still life.


I hope to attend some portaiture sessions this summer. I want to do more!!