INTRODUCING BEGINNING 2-D ART

COLOR THEORY

BEGINNING 2-D ART

tempera & marking pen

I cannot remember when I've had so many potential art majors all in one class.

This year there are at least 10 serious kids who plan on majoring in some form of Visual Arts,

about half are juniors and half seniors with perhaps one 8th grader.

Because of this the results from this first assignment blew my socks off  :)

The critical thinking put into the designing of these works is really remarkable considering they had to incorporate a color wheel, 

value scale, 

monochromatic scale, 

analogous & 3 sets of compliments.

Can you find junior Varisha Azmi's color wheel?  

She designed it into the delightful birds.

How about her Monochromatic scale?

She picked the hue green and put her values mixtures under the tree.

I'm also enjoying all the pen& ink work she put in,

Zentangling it's called.

Let's see what senior Lauren Kennedy came up with.

Can you find her value scale with all the shades of grey? 

And I like how she balanced the piece with her complimentary & their neutrals blades of grass.

Lauren had one of the most beautifully crafted pieces in the bunch.

Her painted edges are to die for!

And wowzer,

look at this incredible piece by junior Sarah Oh!

The fluidity in it is amazing,

Her sense of composition is superb, 

plus it's playful and just so much fun to look at.

In this next one by senior Jocelyn Chou, 

she was really able to capture the opaque quality

that I wanted these kids to lay the paint down with. 

She has created an exciting composition by bringing in a lot of movement with diagonals and curves..

Definitely an eye catcher.

Tempera is a bit tricky,

It wants to go on transparent but it looks better opaque

which means sometimes the kids have to paint an area over twice to get it right.

Jocelyn has nailed it!

Another strong designer who has come to me this year is junior Tiffany Chen.

What a gorgeous piece she has put together here both compositionally 

and with her impeccable craftsmanship.

Bravo Tiffany!

And we end with the very sweet & smart senior Melissa Ongko.

I feel like this work is a bit of a self-portrait for Melissa.

She throws herself into her assignments like this little girl running towards the stars

with arms wide open.

She has come in and knocked out every assignment with gusto and dedication 

like I haven't seen the likes of lately.

This young woman is like a dog with a bone.

She sinks her teeth into each assignment and works on it at home, 

before school,

during lunch & many times after school.

Because of this she is always the first one done,

and it's such a pleasure for me to watch her work and enjoy the process so much.

Your effort has not gone unnoticed Melissa  :)

You all fill my heart with joy to be able to share so many beautiful works of art.

Told you I had some remarkable kids this year!

PAINTING DIMENSIONALLY

PRELIMINARY TEMPERA PAINTING

BEGINNING 2-D ART

tempera on recycled white posterboard

In September,

 at the beginning of the school year,

 I had my beginners use tempera in a flat graphic style.  

But in May,

during 4th quarter,

after the kids have learned to draw and design,

I had them try to use the tempera in a 3-D painterly manner.

 (much more difficult) 

I was so thrilled at how well the kids performed 

that I'm showcasing off a few more then I usually do.

Enjoy!

Let's start with 8th grader Emily Chen.

Emily excelled in my beginning class this year and really did a great job with the tempera.

She also is becoming quite adept with landscapes.

Em used them quite successfully in several of her last works this year.

Junior Bernice Lin, 

another art star this year,

painted this lovely and sensitive piece above.

It was definitely a class favorite.

I'm hoping that both Em and Bernice will be back again next year!

Sadly,

 junior Christopher Wongsavanh will be moving during the summer,

and I was so hoping he'd be back with me next year. 

I really enjoyed getting to know him,

 and always looked forward to his unique designs,

Good luck Chris with your new school,

hopefully they have an art class for you.

And junior Melissa Lanto,

what a cool design idea she came up with!

She painted each of those little balls,

carefully cut them out, 

and then glued them down to her black backdrop.

Stunning! 

Cyrus Salvani, 

one of my top senior artists this year,

blew us out of the water with this brilliant work above.

Besides his striking design,

I also love the texture he thought to bring into this piece.

And junior Hazel Cruz knocked it out of the park with this exciting piece.

She did an amazing job painting her balls,

and then how cool to float them atop the waves.

Also note the tiny bit of tye-dye paper peeking out from around all the edges.

And check this out by junior Risha Bhakta.

I just love how these kids are thinking to cut their work apart

 and re-mount it atop another piece of art.

In this case,

 Risha found a piece of monoprinted paper that was in the recycle drawer to use.

Whenever the kids use tempera,

there is always so much paint that gets partially washed down the sink,

so after the kids leave, 

I take big pieces of white construction paper 

and press it into the bottom of the sink to pick up multiple colored prints

 that change with each rubbing.

These are monoprints and their ghosts.

Lastly senior Karisma Dev also did one of the class favorites.

They really liked her primary palette, 

and the contrast between smooth and textured painting techniques,

along with her bold composition. 

All of you worked so hard and made me so very proud!

Thank you!!!!

Meet My New Beginning 2-D Art Students

COLOR THEORY

BEGINNING 2-D ART

tempera on thick drawing paper w/ pen & ink

My beginners,

 I apologize that it's taken me so long to showcase your class.

I'm finding that you are a talented and  sweet bunch of kids,

 and I'm really enjoying getting to know and work with you.

This Color Theory assignment was done in 1st Quarter and really showed off the skill levels of the kids coming into the class.  

Several of these young ones were with me in their 7th grade year in the art wheel class and I've been waiting patiently for their return.

Most of them are juniors and seniors now and I'm really pleased with the creative pieces they are turning in.

This first beauty was done by Hapshiba Kwon.

I'm thrilled she came back to me 

because she was one of the most talented artists in her 7th grade class.

Another young woman who I've been bugging to come back is junior Katherine Ku.

She, like Hapshiba,

 was also a stellar student in the 7th grade.

Her guitar design is so well thought out, 

 and was one of the best in the class.

Note that all these works you are seeing are incorporating color wheels, 

monochromatic and value scales,

 the 3 main complimentary pairs and their neutrals,

 and 3 colors that are analogous to each other.

Junior Bernice Lin, 

another one of my favs from her 7th grade art wheel class,

 did this lovely floral sun motif

over top her color wheel and value scale.

And then super star senior Karisma Dev, 

whose crazy wonderful work I've been posting for the past 6 years in my 3-D classes,

is finally taking her first 2-d class from me.

Because she is used to thinking dimensionally,

she came up with layering her designs on top of themselves.

The boats are floating on top of the water, 

and the buildings have been made separately from the mountains.

It's had to see these layers in this format,

 but in person it's a really cool new idea!

And lastly we have junior Risha Bhakta, 

a new student to me,

 who is coming in with strong design skills.

Can't wait to show off more of their work, so stay tuned!

Oops!

PRELIMINARY  TEMPERA

BEGINNING 2-D ART

tempera, pen & ink, and graphite on canvas

My sincere apologies to junior Elias Rodriguez for accidentally leaving this very important work from my May 27th post on Beginners learning to work Realistically in Tempera.

This is such a cool and unique piece.

First of all Elias asked if he could work on canvas rather then bristol paper, and work larger as well.

Absolutely!

I can always count on Elias to do something completely out of the box so I was excited to see what he had in mind.

Instead of doing the whole piece in tempera, as the other students did, he mixed his media and incorporated the graphite house and the pen and ink zentangle with his flower that he painted in tempera.

I also really like how he controlled his color scheme, working in a neutral palette until he painted the flower.

Brilliant work Elias, it really shows off your artist gifts!

You will go far!

Going for a Bit of Realism in Tempera

PRELIMINARY PAINT IN TEMPERA

BEGINNING 2-D ART

tempera, cardstock

At the beginning of the school year my beginners were introduced to tempera in their color theory unit.

I asked them to paint their color wheel and schemes in a very flat, opaque and graphic style.

But during 4th quarter we re-visit it in a much more realistic way.

This first one was done by junior Sunny Kim.

She is easily one of my strongest beginners this year and I'm sure hoping to see her next year in the Intermediate class.

Her designs are always lovely and beautifully crafted.

Junior Michael Cantu, whose work we've seen this year several times is also doing an outstanding job with the very tricky tempera.  

It's a frustrating medium to work in because it dries so quickly.

And junior Nathan Chong gives us an equally wonderful work with this piece above.

Note:  I want all you young ones back next year, I still have so much to teach you!

Meet My Beginning 2-D Students

Yeap, beginners.  Incredible right??  I have been blessed again this year with 28 impressive Beginning 2-D kids.  So many of them are coming to me with skills they've developed on their own, a few thru outside art classes.  And several are doing this for the first time and just soaring  :)

This assignment is called Color Theory, and the kids draw a design to accommodate the Color Wheel, Monochromatic, Analogous, Value and Complimentary  Scales.  Then they learn how to mix their colors with Tempera, and paint everything in.  After paint has dried they go black in with a Sharpie and outline all shapes and also bring in textual marks.  As you will see I'm working with kids that have amazing critical thinking skills to come up with these designs.

The top most piece is the work of junior Zoe Lin, one of my most talented new-comers this year.  And below is senior Jackie Manipon, another gifted student.

Then there is super-star sophomore Elias Rodriguez, who took 3 papers to build his incredible design.  Here are close-ups of each section.  Enjoy!

 Elias had to put in 3 times the amount of effort the other kids did, and boy, oh boy , did it pay off.  Elias is known for his dark subject matters and for his attention to details.  I'm hoping by the time he's a senior he will get a full ride scholarship to an art school of his choosing.   He is definitely on his way. 

Another newcomer is senior Erin Sun.  I think she is surprising herself by how well she is doing.  She is one of our school leaders in our Student Council and she has a ton on her plate.  So thank you Erin for pushing yourself and giving me this kind of effort!

Next we have another newbie, junior Michael Cantu with a beautiful piece.  So well developed and thought out.  I sure hope he decides to come back to me next year with these kind of skills going on!

And then there is junior Nathan Chong, who shared with me that he has been doodling and drawing since about 3 years old.  His parents have encouraged him to draw, so that his design and drawing skills are highly developed.  Can't wait to take him through my drawing unit!

And this gorgeous piece belongs to junior Smruthi Maganti who I worked with briefly 5 years ago in the wheel class.  So glad you are back sweet girl!

And lastly I want to show off the work of senior Catherine Chiou.  I love that she has brought a sense of fantasy into her design, along the lines of famous master artist Marc Chagall.  

What gets me every year is where have these talented kids been, how come they haven't taken more art till their junior or senior year.  What a shame!   Oh well, at least maybe the juniors will be back.

More Works in Color - Preliminary Tempera -Student Work

This time the work comes from my amazing beginners in 2-D.  They worked in tempera for their very first Color Theory assignment, but in a flat, graphic style.  This time I wanted them to use their right brain skills and their understanding of light and shadow to create something more realistic or 3-dimensional.

This first one above really shows off the enormous skills that senior Alice Zhang has under her belt.  So lovely and sensitive as is all her work, and in this one I really enjoyed her subject matter.  It reminds me of the tide pools in Laguna Beach that my children take me to on Mother's Day.

In this next work junior Hannah Hwang demonstrates great control with a very challenging medium.  These kids practiced for several days before they did this piece to find their working style.  Hannah is also moving the paint from light to dark with skill, and I really like how she's laid that flower on top of the sphere.

We see a lot of wonderful movement in this next piece below by senior May Luong.  I especially love how she has brought in each of the sphere's colors into the background swirls, so appealing to the eye!

Junior Deena Younan has brought one of my favorite elements into her beautiful piece, repetitious line in the form of stitch, both real and implied.  I also really like that she's included a bit of text to convey her message.  Deena has also chosen to dilute the tempera (in fore and background) with a bit of water which makes it easier to work with and gives the piece transparency and softness.

And lastly we have the work of junior Cathy Luo who also shows us great skill with paint and brush.  Plus what a terrific design and use of color.  Fantastic piece Cathy, make sure you show this to your dad and William,  2 of your biggest supporters!  :)

Color Theory - Student Work

I'm so excited to share the new talent that's come my way in my Beginning 2-D class.  This was their first assignment of the year where they learned all about working with color schemes and the color wheel.  How they designed the assignment was up to them.  The medium is tempera. 

The piece above was created by senior May Luong.  I felt her design was brilliant and so beautifully crafted, and the pen and ink work showed amazing effort and patience.  Junior Deena Younan made the cool piece below.  I thought her design idea was so clever, and I was impressed with how she shaded in the walls and cast shadows with the tempera paint.  Not easy for a beginner.

Senior Ashley Chowdhury made this crazy wonderful, complex work above.  Notice the visual textural elements she has brought in with the sharpie marker.  And below senior Sheila San Agustin designed and painted this lovely yet twisted work.  Impeccable craftsmanship as well Sheila.  In fact, her craftsmanship was so well done that she didn't need to bring in any marker lines at all around her edges.  Bravo Woman! 

I adore this next piece by senior Alice Zhang.  So lovely, so sensitive.  I showed off many of her works last school year in my 3-D class.  Alice is gifted in both 2 and 3-D.  Next we have senior Anne Allan who is new to me, and I'm thrilled with her original, well thought out designs.  I also like how she has incorporated visual texture with the sharpie.

And I'd like to end with another of Alice's pieces, her color wheel below.  Again her sensitive craftsmanship, her color blending with the tempera, the lid's cast shadow, how the lashes go from thick to thin, just beautiful work kiddo. 

OH YEAH!! I'm back in business - Color Theory - Student Art

It feels so good to have my blog back.  Thanks to junior Emily Yang who figured out my problem and helped me fix it, plus taught me some new stuff too!  So I guess that old saying about teaching an old dog new tricks holds true  LOL 

I've been dying to share what I got out of my new Beginning 2-d kids; these gorgeous, colorful works of art.  The assignment was to design, mix and paint a color wheel, and then to also design, mix and paint a monochromatic, value, and analogous color scheme scale, along with the 3 dominant complementary sets and their neutrals.  A lot of color theory stuff.  They could combine it all on one piece of paper or they could divide it up between 2 papers. 

Above, senior Joseph Chon has combined his into one glorious piece.  Plus he's added a bit of visual texture.  Below sophomore Megan Yeu has executed this amazingly complex work and is also  throwing in some visual texture with a felt tip marker.  

I have so many talented beginners this year and I'm so excited to be working with them.  Above we have senior Michelle Chang with her beautifully painted Theme Park...

and these next two belong to sophomore Jessica Perez, who like Megan, is some real up and coming talent to our art program.  Jessica's color wheel is above and her color schemes below.  She is coming to me with impeccable craftsmanship and solid design skills. 

And then this last one was done by senior Tiffany Yeh, who when she began working on this, blew me out of the water with her drawing and design skills.  Where have you been girl for the past 3 years?  So many of these talented kids wait to take my class till their senior year and then they are gone.  It's just soooo sad!

For EXTRA CREDIT on a multi-colored piece of paper (use your critical thinking skills on how to get a mult-colored paper, there are lots of ways), cut out the shape of a fish, and on one side put your name and period, and on the other side write down the name of the art student from above whose piece(s) you liked the best.  Please hand me your beautiful fish when you walk in the door.  The more work you put into this fish the more points you will earn.  You could even make it 3-dimensional rather then 2-d for more points.  Oh boy, I can't wait to see them!