SENIOR MADISON GREENWOLD THIS IS FOR YOU

NEGATIVE SPACE DRAWING OF A LIVE MODEL

BEGINNING 2-D ART

pencil on paper 

(this is a xerox copy of the original drawing)

Look what I just found when I was cleaning out my files from years past,

one of your mommy's drawings from back in the day!

There is no date and I've forgotten what year I had her.

I'm guessing late 1980's or early 1990's.

I want to say that I think that's my T.A. Lester Virtudazo who modeled for us.

Let me know if your mom remembers.

I hope you see this or one of your friends does and let's you know I've posted it

so you can share it with your mom.

Notice your mother's score?

A 5/5,

excellent?

She was a terrific student just like you.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree as they say.

Sorry I didn't make graduation,

I was on the floor, 

turned upside down, 

cleaning out a drawer 

and when I got up my stupid Vertigo had me spinning in my classroom

right before the ceremony.

I didn't trust myself to walk down the aisle in front of you guys at the beginning of the ceremony

without veering to the right.

As it was I barely made it home that afternoon.

I had to drive like a little old lady going 50 mph on the freeway.

LOL

Also,

please thank your parents for the huge gift basket they put in the teacher's lounge.

I took the chocolate biscottis.

Delicious!!!!

NO NEGATIVITY ALLOWED

NEGATIVE SPACE DRAWINGS

BEGINNING 2-D ART

india ink, felt markers & watercolor accents, silk flower & plant props

These are always a favorite assignment of the Beginners.

They take great pride in the outcome,

oftentimes getting their parents to frame them up.

And each year they seem to get more and more remarkable.

Like this creation by junior Esther Ahn.

What a complex, beautifully crafted and designed piece this is.

She planned this out before she began after lots of research into past pieces she viewed on the blog.

I use the blog as homework for whenever I start a new project with the kids.

They must access it at home and pull up the project 

and look thru all the others that have been done from years past for inspiration.

Of course they may not copy anyone else's work.

Here is a close up below of the intricate pen work Esther put into the text..

This next one was made by junior Manishka Ranjit.

She designs with this woman's silhouette in a lot of her artwork,

along with putting different hats on her,

flowers surrounding and running thru her and shades of lavender to color areas in with.

It worked out perfectly for this assignment.

Check out the tiny marking pen details below.

And lastly we have senior Jessica Mones.

Love how she has drawn the plant thru the ship and bird.

It feels really magical like I am in a Peter Pan adventure.

I miss you Jessica.

Hope you are continuing to do more in the art world.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION

NEGATIVE SPACE PLANTS

BEGINNING 2-D ART

india ink on construction paper w/ watercolor accents

Every year the kids manage to come up with a new twist to this already complex assignment.

Junior Gauri Deshpande hit the lotto below by adding strings of lights to her piece.

The assignment:

to draw a silhouette of a subject (Gauri drew a sun motif),

and then to sit in front of a real plant/branch of leaves 

and draw them in Negative Space over top the silhouette.

Afterwards to paint in the positive spaces with India ink.

And at the end to add a special twist.

The results are always stunning!

We do this on a large format,

18" by 24".

You can see the battery packs on either side that Gauri glued down.

Because the paper was so thin and couldn't support the weight of the packs,

she mounted the work on a thick piece of poster board.

Now the artwork hangs beautifully,

and man oh man is it beautiful on display.  

Way to push this assignment even further Gauri and inspire next year's group!

This next gorgeous piece was done by senior Jocelyn Chou.

The plant came together perfectly with the tiger for a crazy balanced composition.

And the topper,

the watercolored green eyes.

Just the right touch.

In this next one by junior Mary Kim,

she picked an incredibly complex silhouette 

wherein she mixed the bronco buster with a piano keyboard.

When she first tried to explain her idea,

I told her it sounded a bit too difficult to pull off,

but Mary was not deterred,

thank goodness,

and brought this together in splendid style accompanied by bits of glass shards and buttons.

Wow,

bravo young woman,

you rocked this assignment!

Next is senior Melissa Ongko.

Instead of totally overlapping the plant with the silhouette,

she figured out a way to bring them together in a complex oval border,

with watercolored flowers underneath for a breathtaking piece.

And make sure you note the dragon morphing with the plant.

Where do these kids come up with these complex ideas??

Junior Tiffany Chen brought us this eye catching piece.

Instead of doing a recognizable silhouette,

she chose to work with geometric pieces for the plant to go over.

And for her special twist she came in with copper paint.

Her's was one of the class favorites.

Photographer senior Luna Chen,

cleverly chose to do a self-portrait for her piece.

Luna is rarely seen around campus without a camera hanging from around her neck.

She photographs most all the sports events along with other happenings at our school.

Thank you Luna for your great art and your service to our school.

I found this work by junior Madelyn Uchiyama really sensory,

capturing my attention from the moment I laid eyes on her finished piece.

Love how she used the watercolor in the background to make it come alive.

And we end with very sweet and hardworking 8th grader Ariel Kim.

She took music for her 7th grade elective 

so I didn't get a chance to work with her in the 7th grade Art Wheel class.

But she told me she really wanted to do art,

and I'm so glad she did.

She came up with this adorable young girl and her umbrella

with the plant running thru like rain.

Her special twist,

she Zentangled in each of the leaves which took a lot of extra time.

Like I said,

a hard working little one.

GROW WHERE YOU'RE PLANTED

NEGATIVE SPACE PLANTS

BEGINNING 2-D ART

india ink with mixed media

I'm so pleased to be able to show these off.

As always the kids did a fantastic job with their creative designs.

The assignment was to draw a silhouette of a recognizable imagex

and enlarge it so that it takes up a goodly portion of the paper (18" x 24")

Then to pick a plant/tree/bush/flower to work from,

and draw it right over the silhouette.

The rest is complex, tricky and optical.

The students choose where to fill in with india ink and where not to.

And then at the end they are required to bring in one additional medium. 

So for instance in this lovely piece by junior Clarisa Kim,

she has chosen to use a violin for her silhouette.

She picked at least 3 different plants that she has drawn over top,

and then her special medium,

a touch of watercolor.

Roseanne Cho challenged herself with this next stunning piece.

She has drawn a striking composition with the zebras,

and then drawn branches coming over top with a tiny touch of watercolor. 

Eunice Shim went all out in this next work.

A phoenix is landing on a tree limb with wild splashes of textural watercolor.

Love how the wing feathers are overlapping the tree trunk on the left top corner.

This next one by senior Matthew Flores is so cool.

A man is flying thru the air entangled in plants in the moonlight.

And how about this powerful and complex design created by Mikaela Makalinao.

She really gives us the feeling that this storm trooper is hiding in the bushes waiting for the go ahead to attack. 

I would describe these next two by Vickie Hur and Emily Allan as soft and delicate.

Both girls have brought in a lot of wonderful watercolor

moving it from dark to lighter values.

Em

And Junior Vivian Chang came up with a unique new idea that I might like to try next year.

She cut out the bottom of her paper to work with her silhouette.

That's so pretty Viv!

Junior Ayesha Durrani used the Lion King to inspire her design for a very beautiful piece.

And senior Sriram Velmanikandan also came up with a new idea.

For his special something he thought to glue down broken shards of glass.

Love it!

And yes,

this is the Sriram from yesterday's post  :)

One of my favorites was this dramatic piece by senior Nandan Vinjaamury.

Can you find the silhouette?

Batman.

The special something doesn't necessarily have to be thru color.

He chose to draw all the zentangly lines around the edging which brings so much added interest to the eye.

And this last one by junior Jazzarie Lo is so much fun.

Look closely at all her thoughtful details.

Here's to Optical Illustions

NEGATIVE SPACE DRAWINGS

BEGINNING 2-D ART

india ink on construction paper w/ watercolor, tempera & tissue collage

Every year I'm so proud to show off the work of my beginning 2-d students.

They work so dang hard for me and it's such a pleasure to show their results.

We've just spent several weeks working from Dr. Betty Edward's book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, and the kids drawing skills have improved so much.  

These are large scale pieces on 18" by 24" paper.

The students are required to draw a large silhouette of a recognizable subject matter first in pencil.

Then right over top and thru that they are to draw something from nature like plants, 

trees, branches, etc. 

Lastly, they paint in the negative spaces with india ink.

Every year I give the kids an opportunity to add or perhaps change the basic requirements.

For instance in this striking piece above by senior Cyrus Salvani,

 he has decided to only draw his branches around the silhouettes rather then also thru them.

This resulted in his silhouettes really popping.

Cyrus also brought in some red tempera because I ask them to bring in at least one extra medium.

This next one was definitely a class favorite.

Junior Hapshiba Kwon did this stunning beauty above

 and brought in some lovely blue watercolor.

The piece feels so soft and gentle,

just like it's creator  :)

Christopher Wongsavanh, a junior,

 who I hope will be back next year for the Intermediate level,

did this incredible work above.

Actually, I'm hoping that all you underclassman come back for a second year, hint, hint!

I love that Chris has worked a message into his piece as many of the students did this year.

Then there is senior Melissa Lanto who created this super sweet and gentle piece.

I love how she surrounded her deer with watercolor.

She chose to draw right thru her silhouette which gives it that optical feel.

Junior Sneha Krish was out ill during the whole assignment,

and still managed to get it done,

She cleverly incorporated her illness as the theme of the work. 

Can you find the doctor and the patient?

The stethoscope and the thermometer?

Never thought of before, 

8th grader Sara Ryave bought in a 3-d twist thru wire flowers she made and attached

to her really unique silhouette idea.

And 8th grader Emily Chen knocked it out of the park with her original design idea

 then brought in just a touch of watercolor.

Lovely Em!

Junior Jane Juan does not disappoint with her whimsical silhouette,

and the sweet little dimensional butterflies she has glued on top of her design.

And her craftsmanship is impeccable.

Another of my 8th graders, 

Iris Choi,

has designed this lovely piece above, 

and has brought in the perfect amount of watercolor.

Junior Katherine Ku also chose watercolor for her carousel ride.

This piece was another class favorite.

One of my personal favorites was this one above created by junior Kevin Wu.

Love the free falling feeling this one conveys,

and the touch of red watercolor is the perfect compliment.

And our last one,

the most dramatic of the bunch,

was made by senior Karisma Dev.

Karisma went to Joann's and purchased this wispy grey chiffon fabric,

used her 3-d skills she she learned here,

 cut a long strip and used a basting stitch to gather it into one fluffy, long piece 

which she then glued in place.

I love how she chose to only border the piece partially.

That's such a great tease and treat for the eye. 

I hope you've enjoyed seeing the huge array of talent and ideas my students are bringing out.

I think sometimes they even surprise them.  :)

My Beginners at their Best

NEGATIVE SPACE PLANT DRAWINGS

BEGINNING 2-D ART

graphite, pen & India ink, watercolor, glitter, sequins, & feathers

I'm always so proud to show these off because the results are so striking.

The project was to draw a silhouette of their choosing onto a large piece of 18" by 24" paper, and then to draw from plants around the room right over top their silhouettes in the negative space drawing technique.

Then the students decide what's going to be black versus white, and fill the black areas in with India ink.

When the ink is dry they choose an additional medium to bring in to the work.

And over the years the kids have come up with lots of creative solutions.

In this first stunning piece by senior Erin Sun, she has brought in just the right amount of watercolor.

And below, senior Yoo-Bin Han uses the smallest amount of blue glitter for that "A ha" factor in her Spock.

Perfection!

Junior Nathan Chong is inspired by Disney's Peter Pan, and chooses watercolor a lite dusting of watercolor.

Junior Michael Cantu floats lovely watercolor lilies amongst his lighthouse landscape for a very 3-d effect.

And senior John Gaintano brings watercolored text to balance out his work, while senior Tim Creasy chooses the perfect bead to embellish hi bird's eye with.

And Annie Ro, senior, chooses feathers for her special touch in the pretty piece above.

Junior Sunny Kim choice are sequins below. 

So feminine and the perfect accompaniment!

And lastly, sophomore Elias Rodriquez gives us this very complex piece with so much to delight the eye.   

I've really enlarged it so you can see all his cool ideas, and how he's brought them together as one which is very difficult to do. 

I love how this young man continues to push himself way beyond my rubric requirements.