Kindergarten is Playing in the Snow!

I wanted to revisit self portraits with kindergarten.  

I break down full body self portraits using shapes in a demo first.  Then I let the children go back and draw their body.   I then do another demo showing them how to add in details(eyes, nose, mouth, hats..etc).   I don't do step by step...."guided drawing" because  I feel that they become to robotic looking & lack the child's personality.
I love my kindergarten students...they are AMAZING!!!!!!!

        

Gems Found During Finish Up Day

     

The last week of the 9 weeks I have students finish up their art for the nine weeks, and I have portfolio reviews with them as I grade.  I loved these two works in progress.  Both students have been consistently good artists since kindergarten...and love to create.  The project was to draw a self portrait and place yourself in an environment that shares something(s) about you.  The details are wonderful...and I feel both express the students personality in so many ways.  Such a joy to come across work like this!!! 

   

Self Portraits: Kindergarten

Forgive the shadows on the images...but look at these kindergarten self portraits!!!  I'm so impressed by these little guys.  I didn't even break out the crayons because they were so involved in drawing the details!!  

More Purple Robe Inspired Work: 1st

Here are a few more finished pieces.

There are so many good unfinished ones....I hope I can find some time to get 

my kids to finish up their work.  

The Purple Robe Inspired Self Portraits: 1st Grade

Matisse is my fav. artist!!  I love the color & pattern in his work.  So I used Matisse's painting..The Purple Robe as the inspiration for the 1st grade self-portraits.  They had to draw their whole body & include 10 different patterns.  Finishing was an issue, but over all they are amazing!!!

Self-Portraits :2nd Grade

I'm very happy with the 2nd grader self-portraits!  This is the start of the school year...and they are not far removed from being 1st graders!!!  They started by doing a large self portrait(using mirrors) on a 9x12 paper.  I then allowed them to choose a 9x18 piece of paper.  I limited their colors to a more patriotic color 

palette.  We discussed ways to create an interesting background using line/shape/color that was not the flag, but could reference it if they wanted.  Not sure if the patriotic came through on all of them, but they look great!  

Creature Portraits: 3rd

Week 2 of the 2013-2014 school year brought us these fun "creature" portraits.  Week 1 we reviewed self portraits & created a full body "normal" portrait with an interesting place for the background.  This week I wanted to continue with portraits, but put a fun spin on it for my students.  We started with "normal" instruction for portraiture.  After they spent sometime with a mirror, pencil, and paper...I introduced THE TWIST!  The kids LOVED it!!!  Some did a lot of erasing...others just added onto themselves.  

We also discussed taking our creatures & creating a story based off of them.  I've got to look at the curriculum, but I'd really like to pursue them writing some & drawing a narrative to go along with these!

OK...LOOK AT THIS NEXT ONE & THINK ICONIC MOVIE CHARACTER!

GIVE UP?

Here is a hint...."BABYRUTH"

Fancy/Fun/Crazy Hair: Kindergarten

(This child is wise beyond her years in many ways!  Love this portrait!!!)  

The last lesson from my student teacher for Kindergarten (next week is finish up week..and her last week with us).  This was a WINNER!!!!!!!!  She started by reading Fancy Nancy(who you may know has very fancy hair).  There are many books out there about crazy/messed up hair you could use if you think Fancy Nancy is too polarizing(but I'll tell ya..the boys loved it too!!!).  She taught the student some basic principles of portraiture...and then had them create crazy fancy/fun/crazy hair on themselves.  They kids were really into it!     I like to do portraits several times a year with my students...to gauge student progress.  This is a fresh way to do portraits so students aren't like..."NOT AGAIN!?!?!".  

If you look closely...they have boogers?!?!?! Yes..they were setting together. 

 Kids are so gross sometimes! ha ha ha

There is something very simple & sweet about this picture.  It is one of my favorites!  

PIcasso Heads: 2nd Grade

Here are the finished results from the Picasso self portraits!  They turned out WONDERFUL!  My markers bit the dust, but the work looks great!!