DOODLE OR ZENTANGLE?

LINEAR, PATTERN & TEXTURE W/ WATERCOLOR

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 2ND QUARTER - 2017-2018

watercolors, brushes & felt tip markers

So in my day we called it doodling.

We did it while we talked to our friends on the telephone with the cord wrapped around us, 

trying to get as far away from our parents as the cord would reach.

We did it all over our "Peachies" (note folders),

and I especially did it in all my boring classes 

along the edge of my notes in English, Math & Science.

These days it's been elevated into an art form and I see it everywhere I shop.

Books & magazines in the grocery stores, 

 coloring books for adults at the book & crafts stores,

and of course how-to books as well.

It's fun for the kids and teaches them so much about design, patterning & texture.

I like to throw in watercolor as well to give it a beautiful backdrop.

And the kids love the watercolor lesson.

We start with Kayla Vicencio.

I really like how she threw in text with the floral designs and paisleys.

These two were done by Zoe Hoksbergen & Ashlyn Wong.

Both girls used a warm Analogous color scheme.

They put in so much time and effort to craft them and draw in all the lines.

Then more time to fill in some of the shapes as well.

Fabulous work Zoe & Ashlyn!

Some of them are really subtle like Krystal Lin's above,

while others are bold and powerful like Matthew Bautistas.

Loved the color schemes that both Faith Osaji & Daniel Yorba picked (Primary).

Yet each looks so very different.

Both equally as wonderful and powerful.

We end with Salome Agbaroji.

She designed so much movement into her piece.

I almost feel that those spirals are dancing and leaping for joy under a warm Caribbean sun.

Fantastic job all of you.

I'm so proud to show you off to the whirled.

THE ART OF "ZEN"

LINEAR PATTERN & TEXTURE W/ WATERCOLOR

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 1ST QUARTER - 2017-2018

watercolor & felt tip marker

When I was in school we called these marks doodling.

Now the catchphrase is "Zentangle".

Whatever you want to refer to it as,

 the kids love it,

as well as learning how to do a watercolor wash.

I've graded hundreds of these over the years,

but I never see two exactly the same.

These kids create beauty & magic with this assignment.

The gorgeous one above was made by Reya Syed.

The students are allowed to use repetitious line, shapes, text, images,

pretty much the sky is the limit;

as long as they fill up as much negative space as possible.

Above we have Shaniya Gentry.

I really like how she turned many of her lines into shapes by filling them in.

And to pull it all together she drew the continuous trail of circles.

Next up we have Eileen Rodriguez Salehi with this gorgeous rainbow of color and design.

Just so yummy!

 Alia Cortez has brought us a much more serious and dark design 

that moves our eye diagonally across the paper.

Such cool & expressive work Alia!

These next two beauties belong to Sara Wong and Serena Lee.

Fantastic movement in value thru their watercolor backdrops.

And these two were done by Sabrina Wang and Anika Kasula.

Note the amazing craftsmanship going on in both pieces!

And one of my favorites was this playful piece by Eva Matentsian.

Just adorable!

Great job 7th graders!!

GET YOUR ZEN OUT

LINEAR TEXTURE WITH WATERCOLOR

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 4TH QUARTER - 2016-2017

watercolor on cold press watercolor paper & fine marking pens

It always amazes me what these young ones will pull out of their hats on this assignment.

These designs are so intricate, 

and the watercolor backdrops so beautiful.

Back in my day these kinds of marks on paper were called doodling.

Now it's referred to as Zentangling and has become quite the rage.

Let's take a peek.

Custo Yang Huang made one of the class favorites.

It's really remarkable how patient and crafty this young man was able to work

in such a short amount of time,

as well as how many design ideas he was able to think up.

We all loved his sweet fox.

Notice the leaves in the fur?

Here's another by Camille Dang that is so complex and gorgeous.

It's really astounding how many itsy bitsy marks she is recording on this.

Bryan Fan has really captured a peaceful easy feeling in his piece,

and the range of value he was able to achieve with his watercolor was extremely difficult to do.

Serah Park is working to the theme of Ocean Child,

and it really feels like we are underwater.

And Eric Ren can up with his own twist on this assignment 

by choosing to leave a bit more negative space for the eye to rest

for a really striking piece.

BACK TO THE FUTURE

LINE, TEXTURE, PATTERN W/ WATERCOLOR

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 3RD QUARTER - 2016-2017

watercolor with marking pens

These youngsters,

our future,

give me great hope when I see the joy they bring to their art pieces.

We begin with Nicholas Gonzalez and this super cool abstracted landscape.

Patrick Arboleda and all the words he was able to put together in such a pleasing way.

And then Sriya Kotta's take on the use of text in her piece.

And Holy Moly,

 Manasvi Mehta takes my breathe away with this bold & beautiful work.

And the effort involved,

oh my!

Brandon Torres Ngork created the most gorgeous Analogous watercolor background.

And Bhumika Kalaimalai goes all out in both design and craftsmanship.

Perfect ending.

Love them all!

LET'S ZENTANGLE!

LINEAR/PATTERN/TEXTURE

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 2ND QUARTER - 2016-2017

These young ones went to town on this assignment,

both with the watercolors and the doodling,

these days referred to as  "zentangling".

Youngsters Katelyne Gonzalez & Loreinice Zilabbo start us off with these very colorful

and fun doodles.

And speaking of colorful,

Roshni Powers paints this striking watercolor backdrop for her amazing zentangle design.

Alexa Trinidad tones it down a couple of notches

 with her sweet little girl and cat taking a stroll in the rain.

But then Amy Wang brings us back up again with this wild & wonderful doodle.

Looks like she spent hours and hours slaving over this,

which is probably what she did.

I always love when the kids pick a Primary Color Scheme to work in

 like Samantha Catacutan did.

For me personally,

it's really uplifting.

I also really like when the kids bring in text like Anushka Panjwani did here.

You can really see what's on their sweet young minds.

We end with this Surrealistic one by Sarah Noeng

I just love how she thought to dangle those fish hooks,

and that they are leading our eye to the queen of the ocean on the bottom left.

So cool!

IS IT DOODLING OR ZENTANGLING?

LINEAR TEXTURE WITH WATERCOLOR

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 4TH QUARTER - 2015-2016

watercolor & pen & ink

I left the names of these art students at school 

so tomorrow I will insert them,

but I wanted to post tonight so my new 7th graders 

could see some amazing designs for their next assignment.

The new catchword for this kind of art is called Zentangling.

When I was growing up in the 60' & 70's, 

and scrawling this on the outside of my Pee Chee (folder), 

it was called doodling.

I still feel like it's doodling.

But man oh man,

is it popular right now. 

 Walk into any Michaels or JoAnns and you will massive amounts of books on the subject.

And now they are taking the Zentangle designs

 and putting them into Coloring Books which are also taking off in popularity across the country.

Let's take a look at these very talented 7th grade designs.

Helena Ebalobar  & Aden Gomez

Shukthi Senthilraj & Amrita Vinjamury

Kamilah Islam

Danielle Louie & Sachi Nandedkar

Samantha Yamaguchi & Reese Guitche

Elu Loquias Malena Santos

Doodling or Zentangling?

LINEAR TEXTURE WITH WATERCOLOR

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 3RD QUARTER - 2015-2016

watercolor & marking pen

Both.

Back in the day we called it Doodling,

but now it's called by a new fancy name,

Zentangling.

Let's see what the 7th graders did with it.

Reese Velez,

one of my most artistically gifted 7th graders this year ,

blew us out of the water with this very sophisticated design.

Than Mmossi Gamero brought in her signature butterfly to tell her story

on top of her atmospheric watercolor wash.

Loren Kim put in tremendous effort with this crazy amazing design.

And Athena Rose Sanchez found a clever way to incorporate her name

overtop her lovely design.

And we finish with young Palmer Patel 

who always gives us an original take on all his art pieces.

LET'S ZENTANGLE

LINEAR TEXTURE W/ WATERCOLOR

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL 2015-2016 1ST QUARTER

watercolor & sharp felt tip marker

It's always a joy to show these off.

The kids love working with the watercolors,

and they show remarkable patience drawing their zentangles.

I have them make 4 thumbnail sketches and pick the best one,

and then they aren't allowed to draw in pencil first.

Got to go for it in ink right off the bat on top of the watercolor backdrop.

This forces them to go very slow and carefully.

One of the class favorites was done by Amara.

We loved her watercolor background in the Primary Color Scheme she chose.

And then her design flows so beautifully with it.

Jamie An drew us into her piece 

with her strong focal point in a monochromatic colorway.

And Kritika used the same circular idea but in a completely different way,

throwing in text so not only do you want to look 

but you also want to read the piece.

Keeping your eye on the prize.

Young Alex is stretching thru 6 colors,

 from the yellows to the reds, 

in his piece by picking a warm colorway.

Plus he has achieved a very dimensional feel by overlapping his circles

and doing a lot of echoing.

And this last one was another class favorite by Maria Miranda.

We were all so impressed with how well she controlled her watercolors,

and the range of values she was able to achieve.

So lovely and goes perfectly with her drawing.

Great job kiddos!!!

7TH GRADERS ROCKING THIS ASSIGNMENT!!

LINEAR TEXTURE WITH WATERCOLOR

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL 2014-2015

watercolor and pen & ink

These are referred to as Zentangles these days,

but for my 7th graders they are really an exercise in pattern and shape,

along with learning about color theory & watercolor washes.

One of my favorites was done by Shannon Carizon.

Love that tree silhouette balanced by her moon.

And the wash is so well done with lots of atmospheric values.

This next one by Megan Ly is so well thought out and executed.

Stunning piece sweetheart!

Malia Pulido went all out in this amazing design above.

She is such a hard worker and will spend hours on her pieces.

Her design is so pleasing to the eye.

Sydney Eng came up with a super unique design,

also spending hours on all those tiny marks.

We were all so impressed with this one by Gabriela Roxas.

Her craftsmanship was impeccable!

And Emma Yang brings her sweet & bubbly personality into this last piece.

It reminds me of an illustration you might find in a beautiful children's book.

And the quote by Yoko Ono is perfect.

These young ones just amaze me with the time and effort

 they are willing to put into their assignments.

And the creativity is out of bounds!