Middle School Work On Scratch Design portrait

Beginning  with their completed self-portraits, the middle school students copied their work onto heavy paper, outlined the faces and backgrounds with Sharpie and added intense oil pastel color in unusual combinations, covering the entire composition. They were then painted over with black tempera paint and intricate designs were scratched into the surface revealing the face underneath the scratched surface.

Adding unrealistic colors

Going over the lines in Sharpie

Working on the background

Beginning to scratch into the ink

Patterns across the top

Check out the face!

Finished work

Another with lots of texture variety

Lots of color and texture in this one

Great variety of possibilities here

K/1 and 2/3 Self-Portraits

The K/1s began their self-portraits, some attempting this for the first time. Most of the 2/3 class has had some exposure with this assignment and are making use of the previous experience. The students looked in mirrors, thought about the shape of their faces and tried and capture their features. Working with pencils and then tempera paint, they made an attempt to create an image that is recognizable as them. This focused time is a great exercise in being in the moment, really being aware of where they are and what they are trying to accomplish. This is a skill that is useful in many aspects of life, apart form drawing self-portraits. 

Focused attention

Early attempt

Mixing the right skin color

Thoughtful painting

Checking the progress

Striping the background

Consultation

Painting the plaid shirt

4/5 Self-Portraits

The 4/5s worked from mirrors, thinking about the shape of their face and trying to accurately locate and capture their features. Working with colored pencils they tried to put all these elements together to create an image that is recognizable as them.

First sketch

Just beginning

The sketch is taking form

Checking the mirror

K/1 Bird Puppets

The K/1s are creating tagboard articulated puppets with flapping wings in conjunction with their classroom bird study. Working from a photo of the bird they're investigating, they are accurately coloring their puppet to look like their particular bird. The body and wings are cut out, the wings attached with brass fasteners, and a string tied to the back to allow the wings to flap up and down.

A sparrow emerging

An owl with delineated feathers

Cutting out the body

Cutting around the tail

Finished chickadee

Middle School Self-Portraits

The annual Parker self-portrait project has begun for the middle school students. The students watched a video on how different expressions change the features of a face and then reviewed rule of thumb methods for placement and proportion for achieving their likeness. They worked from mirrors, thinking about the shape of their face and trying to accurately locate and capture their features. They tried to put all these elements together to create an image that is recognizable as them.

First sketch

Focusing on the features

A definite resemblance

Adding some dark and light values 

Matching up the ears

4th - 8th Grade Paper Quilling

Paper quilling began in the Renaissance and was picked up in Colonial America. It is done by rolling and gluing thin strips of paper into assorted shapes and gluing them down to create figurative or abstract designs. The 4th through 8th grade students tried their hands at this unusual craft, coming up with some highly original pictures including some strips that worked their way into the three-dimensional realm.

Making a tight coil

Gluing a construction together

Working on a composition

A large symmetrical design

K/1sand 2/3s Invent a Scene Through a Window

Imagination can take you anywhere. The K/1s and the 2/3s were asked to imagine a scene outside a window. It could be anything from a dragon to a flower garden, but they would draw it as though they were seeing it through a window. Then a frame with shutters was glued over the scene picture so it could be opened to reveal whatever they had invented. Their drawings were as varied as are the kids!

Watching the magic of watercolor pencils

A flower and vegetable garden out this window

Picture with the shutters glued on

Lots of concentration and detail here

Some final touches on the scene