BREAK IT UP

FRACTURED FRONTAL PORTRAITS

INTERMEDIATE 2-D ART

pastels, tinted charcoal paper, ink, colored pencils, construction paper & poster board

These pieces really show off the talent & creativity of seniors Bernice Lin & Risha Bhakta.

They were required to find a frontal photo to work from,

then fracture it into at least 3 pieces.

They could fracture right from the get go on one piece of paper which no one chose to do this year,

or they could draw selected sections of the subject & cut and paste them next to each other

like we will see  below in Bernice's kitty piece,

or the fracture could happen after the drawing was complete like the first two we will see.

In this first breathtaking piece by Bernice,

she started off with a beautiful photo with amazing colors.

She enlarged and drew it on tinted charcoal paper in water based pastels.

But it was her gorgeous fracture idea that really made it special.

She spent hours & hours carefully cutting out her fracture from a piece of white posterboard

with a super sharp exacto knife.

Truly remarkable Bernice!

And so proud to show it off.

This next one below by Risha is equally as magnificent.

Her technique was to first draw in pencil then go over that with colored pencil 

which looks so realistic in the way she captured the high & low lights,

the subtle color changes of each strand,

and the exact movement of each wave.

Brilliant! 

Her fracture,

the mask.

No one has ever thought to do this idea before.

She,

 like Bernice,

 used an exacto and black construction paper

to cut out her delicate & intricate design.

The most difficult thing was how to attach the mask.

Risha didn't want to glue it down in case she decided to take it off.

So this clever girl used transparent fishing line and dangled it down from the matt she framed it in.

Can you see the strings?

Pretty cool, huh?

Bernice enjoyed the fracture challenge so much that she did a second one 

with a cute little kitty as her subject.

In this one she drew in ink & colored pencil on a piece of white paper.

 She selected only sections of the cat that she felt would look good on their own,

drew those & cut them out,

 and mounted them next to each other on black poster board,

creating a jigsaw puzzle effect.

She bordered it with gold and then black matt to pull it all together.

BATTER UP

VALUE SCALES

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL -  2ND QUARTER 2015-2016

graphite & colored pencil

As the 2nd Quarter 7th grade group leaves,

I'm finally getting to post their work.

There is always so much talent to be found with these crazy sweet little ones.

These were the best of this first assignment with me.
I hope you all enjoy getting to know this new group.

Let's start with Aaron Amaya.

You saw him in yesterdays farewell post.

The handsome boy with the long ponytail (he's growing his hair out to donate).

Aaron came to me with a gift.

The gift of drawing from his head,

something I cannot teach.

It's very rare to have a student who can do this.

I asked him if he's ever taken any art classes?

No.

You mean it just flows out of you?

Yeah, I guess so.

Remarkable.

Super clever composition,

inside a diner and the table as his value scale.

He was also very comfortable bringing in the optional extra credit colored pencil.

Something that I hadn't shown the kids how to use yet.

And notice his knowledge of 1 Pt. Perspective?

Really???

WOW!!!

This next very lovely work is the creation of Clara Kim.

Man, oh man,

talk about sophisticated work for a 7th grader.

I was super impressed with Clara as well.

Notice her subtle use of the analogous colors blue/purple

coming together to darken and shade her water under the bridge?

It's cast shadow.

And her craftsmanship is remarkable as well.

Fantastic piece Clara!

This very quiet work belongs to Victorio Decordova,

which is surprising since Victorio is quite the chatter box.  hee hee

It amazes me what comes from these kids

 when you get them into right brain and non verbal for at least 20 minutes at a time.

Beautifully crafted,

and I especially like how the palm tree is only partially colored in.

And the kids were only required to give me 5 values of grey,

but notice Victorio did 8!!

And oh my,

who do we have here with this very dynamic piece?

It's Monica Lee.

Bravo young woman!

Great job filling the paper,

balancing the pier with the tree,

the reflection of the sun on the water

 as well as the numerous values you put in.

I look forward to showing off more of their work this quarter.

And WELCOME ABOARD new 3rd Quarter 7th graders.

I look forward to getting to know you all.

Farewell to My Sweet Little Nublets

COLORED PENCIL SPHERES

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 2ND QUARTER

colored pencils with some pen & ink

What a treat it has been getting to know my current crop of young ones.

And so much artist talent!

It has really been a lot of fun,

 and I hope you will all be back for another art class in the future.

So let's see whose spheres we have up today.

One of the young ladies who impressed me the most

 with her maturity and creativity was Audrey Ancheta.

She almost always incorporated a message within her art pieces like the thoughtful one above.

Another who will go on to do great things in the art world is Jeffrey Hwang.

I think I might have mentioned before in another post,

but Jeffrey takes outside art lessons.

And what he brings to the plate with me is always something very special.

Check out his striking composition above.

Notice his use of crosshatching lines to build his values with.

And then there is super star Charlotte Park.

I'm pretty sure Charlotte has been dabbling with drawing for most of her young life.

She is super shy,

but yet brave enough that she will bring me in her sketchbook to peek thru. 

And she is always up for improvement and advise.

I have loved working with such a sweet child.

 Notice in her piece above,

 the diagonal horizon which creates directional movement for the eye.

She has also done a great job simulating wood grain,

and her sphere looks very 3-dimensional with superb transitions in value.

Ashley Sunwoo is definitely a rising art star here at Whitney.

She loves working in color which shows thru in her sphere color choices.

And love that backdrop she has put in as well.

And then there is Veronica Baek.

What a joy it has been to teach her.

Even though she is a bit of a bug and asks a ton of questions,

they are always relative and show her attention to fine details.

She is a smart cookie  :)

 and I'm so hoping she will be back!

Her work is always featured as some of the best in the class.

So to gentle Solyana,

my seatmate who has had to put up with my loud voice,

 to Rudy and Kylan,

my two numb nuts who are always fooling around and sort of paying atention,

to Kenneth who I will miss bugging to get closer to see what's going on,

to Maia whose style and smile I will miss,

to Tony and Joshua who never know what's going on but that's ok because your hearts are so pure,

to quiet and shy Lisette who I think I made you smile at least once in the 8 weeks  :),

to Annika who is not quiet at all  LOL,

to Seth who is one of the cutest 7th graders in the class,

to Aditi who was always on the same wave length as me,

to Sandra who had to put up with Cameron,

and Hailey and Katelyn both gifted young artists,

to Nikolas who always delighted and surprised me with his wonderful pieces,

and don't think I could forget you Samuel who I really enjoyed getting to know,

to Amandeep and Zaafir,

 two of the most handsome young men in the 7th grade,

to Kevin,

thank you for your sweetness and thoughtfulness,

to Alyssa, Lesly and Julie, 

don't think I didn't know you where back there  :),

and lastly,

 to the one who made the biggest, loudest impression on me

CAMERON

I will miss you all so much!

Come by and see me,

and don't forget to check the office wall for art displays,

my blog to see what your friends are making, 

and bring your parents in so I can meet them at Open House in April.

7th Grade Colored Pencil Spheres

Here some more sweet pieces by my adorable 4th Quarter 7th graders.    They whipped these up in only 2 days using their new found knowledge of color theory and various shading styles.

Cannot find their names, must have forgotten to write them down, but you guys know who you are.  

Sorry!!  E-mail me if you see this and I'l put them in.

7th Grade Value Scales - 3rd Quarter

Just found some work by my 3rd Quarter 7th graders that I haven't posted yet, their clever value scales.  The kids are so cute.  They always ask me if they may incorporate a bit of color.  Of course I tell them as long as you nail all the minimum requirements you can get as creative as you want, thus the colored pencil you will see in a couple of them.

Above we have William Tan with this very sophisticated design.  And below is Justin Hogenauer.  I had a lot of very talented young men in this 3rd quarter group.

Next we have Noah Kang with this really expressive face.  Very clever design Noah.

And Erin Jimenez did the outstanding composition above.  I really like how she gave the paint brush a sense of movement.

Then below is Lance Pancha with this very colorful piece.  All of you did a fantastic job.  Sorry it took me so long to get these up.

7th Grade Colored Pencil Spheres

My 1st Quarter 7th graders got to do a value study in color, using colored pencils, after they did one in graphite.  They had a choice; to shade monochromaticaly, analogously, or complimentary.

Superstar Heather Choe did the gorgeous piece above.  She chose blue for her local color and purple to shade with.  That's an example of using analogous colors to shade with (colors that are next to each other on the color wheel).  I love the background she put in as well.  

In the work above, Kristina Theam, has choosen to shade her sphere using complimentary colors (colors that are opposite each other on the wheel).  When complimentary colors are overlapped they create a neutral, a brownish tone that is used to darken an object.  Look at her sensitive style with the colored pencils, lovely!

And this last little cutie above was created by Gauri Deshpande.  Look at the clever environment she put her sphere into.  Gauri chose to shade with analogous colors.

Great job all of you! 

Good Bye 7th Graders

It was wonderful getting to know all you 7th graders this year.  I was very fortunate to have 4 terrific groups to work with.  Many of you made a lasting impression and I hope you will return when you are juniors and seniors.  Even as sophomores if you can fit me in your schedule (there are ways  :)  So thank you all for making this year so special.

Above we have Sara Cantu and below is Jenna De La Paz, two of the top artists from the 4th quarter group, with their graphite spheres and the clever compositions both girls worked them into.

Hello 4th Quarter 7th Graders

Another very sweet, smart and artistic group.  

These are a few of their value scales.

The mermaid was created by Jenna De La Paz.  This is such a great composition for one so young.  She fills the paper really well for balance and then she adds a touch of colored pencil to make it even more special. 

In this next piece Eric Kim comes up with a very cool design to house his value scale.  And below we have Sara Cantu adding her own cute additions.  I especially love her sweet, quirky bird.  

Embossments with Added Color - Student Work

These color embossments were the last assignment of the year for my Beginning 2-D Art students and I was so pleased with how they turned out, especially since we were running out of time and had only 5 class periods to do them.  I give each student a piece of dense cardboard and tell them to design a subject on the board by gluing down pieces of wire, yarns, other cardboard cut outs, seed beads, thin buttons, toothpicks, and anything else they can find that will give a slight embossmenrt to the paper without puncturing thru it.  So as you view these pix you will see the finished piece on top and their cardboard plate below.  Many of the plates are so well done that they are art pieces themselves.  This top one blew me out of the water it was so well done by junior Michelle Lee.  I believe she watercolored and felt tipped over the embossment.  A powerful design Michelle.

This is a printmaking assignment, and we do use an actual printing press to do it with.  After the glue on the plate has dried for 24 hours, I give the kids a piece of deckled printmaking paper (the good stuff), they wet it, blot it, then lay and center it on top of their plate and run the whole thing thru the press.  The very cool non-objective design above was done by junior Marison Arcilla. Love all the small textural elements she has drawn in on top of the embossment.

After coming out of the press they then have a choice in how to finish it out.  Watercolors, colored pencils, collage, pastels, any of their favorite color media that they have learned how to use in the class.  Can they mix their media, you bet!  The very gentle, sweet work above was done by senior Tiffany Wang, who uses giraffes a lot in her work in both the 2-d and the 3-d class.

Of course I teach them how to sign, number, date and title the piece, because after all, it is a print.  Above we have junior Sarah Zhang.  And look how that clever girl sewed buttons on top of the embossment.  Love it!

Notice how the prints come out in reverse of the plates.  Definitely makes it more difficult to design that way.  the two cuties above were done by two very talented seniors, Karen Pan and Rachel Kim.

And the snail and eye were done by senior Alex Ho and junior Gary Fong.  Great job guys! 

And lastly, another favorite of mine (sorry I didn't photo the plate) was done by junior Janice Min.  I loved, loved, loved how her watercolor dried in this piece.  Brilliant work kiddo.

7th Grade Colored Pencil Spheres

So let's see what my wild and crazy 7th graders have been up to lately. They have been studying color theory thru lots of color media. Learning how to shade monochromatically, analogously, and complimentary. They are also trying to smooth out their transitional areas for a very round looking sphere while working with a wide range of value. Plus finding their working style. So these 3 beauties above were made by Julia Bok, Efrain Quintero and Jewel Quilaton. The one above by Jean Kim was shaded with analogous colors blue and purple, and the 2 below were created by Janet Chen and Jane Juan.

Then we have Frances Lee above along with Albert Lee, and one of the best was done below by Aaron Liu. All these kids have such great potential and I really hope they will be coming back to me for more art lessons.

For EXTRA CREDIT cut a piece of pink paper into the shape of a sphere and pick the artist who made your favorite one. Put your name and period on the front of the sphere, and your favorites name on the backside.