I love teaching the 8th graders how to create a 2 point perspctive city! These usually turn out very nice and look so much more complicated than they really are. In class, we work on going step-by-step drawing the buildings and I show them a few tricks to create the windows, signs, etc. Then, the kids have a few days to add all of their special touches. I just love what Maddie did with One Direction!

The 6th graders just learned about learning how to draw a person in correct proportion. We used a drawing technique called, gestures. Gestures are a nice change for the students because they previously worked on showing lots of details in their still-life drawings, and gestures require very few details. Here are a few of my favorites!!

The 8th graders have been sketching the still-lives, using different types of media. Their first still-life was in regular pencil. The second still-life they created was with white pencil on black paper. The final still-life sketch was done on scratch board. I'm very happy with the results.

Cave Paintings

I'm teaching a new class this year...Art Appreciation. The class is only offered at the 8th grade level. I also still teach Art Production to 8th graders. I tell the kids that Art Appreciation is learning about art and Art Production is creating art. My plan for the class is to hit on some of the highlights of art history. In our first unit, we learned about cave paintings and then created our own cave art using natural materials. I think the kids thought this would be really easy....it wasn't. Colin and Taylor did a very nice job on their's!

Drawing Unit

The seventh graders just finished drawing the still-lifes that I had set up in the room. They first learned about value and how to make things look 3-D. Their next challenge was to sketch a still-life using colored pencils. I think the final results were very nice.

Homecoming Banner

Each year the 8th grade Independent kids create a banner for homecoming. This year's theme was, "Blast from the Past." Each student chose a decade and a cougar. I think they did a great job!