KINDERGARTEN . . . Rainbow Fish

Rainbow Fish by Gianna

Kindergarten students just completed an underwater scene with watercolor and tempera paints, based on the illustrations in the book, "The Rainbow Fish," by Marcus Pfister. In this story, we read about a beautiful fish who learned the way to true happiness only after sharing his special scales with the other fish in the sea. What activities do you do at home that is more fun when you share them with your friends? Doesn't it feel good when you make someone you care about feel special too?

Here is a video of the story we read together in class to share with your family...

To create our paintings, we first learned how to draw a fish using basic shapes, such as an oval and a triangle. We also learned how to add scales inside the fish and how to complete a full underwater scene with an ocean bottom, plants, starfish, crabs and bubbles in the water.

Next, we created the ocean with a large brush, lots of water and blue watercolor paint. With a small, detail brush, we added shimmering colors of tempera paint for each detail in the scene. Finally, when all the paintings were complete, we shared a sparkling sticker with every fish and friend in class!

Here are some examples of our underwater scenes. To see all of our work, click on this link for artsonia. com and scroll down to the Kindergarten exhibit.  http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Rainbow Fish by Anthony

Rainbow Fish by As'ad

Rainbow Fish by Scout

Rainbow Fish by Sadie

Note to families...
This art blog will be updated regularly with new posts sharing our daily activities in the art room and news about upcoming art exhibits. To respect the privacy of our students, names will always be limited to first name only and identifiable photos will never be accompanied with a name. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to write in the comment box below or send me an email at blevine@ranneyschool.org. I would love to hear from you!
    In my class, students are given the chance to explore different materials and fun new techniques as they develop their signature style. Some young artists love to draw with a pencil, some like to paint on canvas or create images in a digital format, while others prefer working with clay and molding three-dimensional forms. In my classroom, we use a variety of materials allowing all artists to experiment and figure out which type of art they like the best. At Ranney School, we place a strong emphasis on originality and celebrate artistic differences, always nurturing and encouraging the imagination of every student.
     Remember to check out our display of finished artwork and student portfolios in the Ranney home page of Artsonia.com.  http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

PRE-K . . . A snowy name!

Our Pre-Kindergarten snowmen are standing in the snow next to a bare winter tree and looking up at the sky. The snowflakes in the sky spell out our names!

We are learning so many skills in art class. Every art project offers opportunities to explore new materials and learn new techniques. With our snowmen project we learned how to . . .

• draw and cut out the three circles for our snowmen
• cut out a triangle for the orange nose 
• cut strips with a fringe for the scarf
• draw a winter tree with real looking branches . .  these are amazing!!!
• paint our names with finger print snowflakes
• paint the snow along the bottom of the page with a small brush
• work together to follow step by step directions 

To see all of our Pre-K projects, follow this link to our home page of artsonia...   http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Note to families...
This art blog will be updated regularly with new posts sharing our daily activities in the art room and news about upcoming art exhibits. To respect the privacy of our students, names will always be limited to first name only and identifiable photos will never be accompanied with a name. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to write in the comment box below or send me an email at blevine@ranneyschool.org. I would love to hear from you!
    In my class, students are given the chance to explore different materials and fun new techniques as they develop their signature style. Some young artists love to draw with a pencil, some like to paint on canvas or create images in a digital format, while others prefer working with clay and molding three-dimensional forms. In my classroom, we use a variety of materials allowing all artists to experiment and figure out which type of art they like the best. At Ranney School, we place a strong emphasis on originality and celebrate artistic differences, always nurturing and encouraging the imagination of every student.
     Remember to check out our display of finished artwork and student portfolios in the Ranney home page of Artsonia.com.  http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

FIFTH GRADE . . . Van Gogh inspiration

"Vincent van Gogh is an incredible artist who is identified by his beautiful and swift strokes. My favorite painting of his is "Starry Night!" - Bella

This week our sketchpad assignment was to draw like Vincent van Gogh. Some students created a drawing based on one of his well known paintings and others focused on an original subject matter, but drew it with the short directional strokes most typical of a Vincent van Gogh.

Below each image is the artist statement as told to the class by the fifth grade artists. You are welcome to add comments to our artists at the bottom of this post. They would love to hear from you! Enjoy!!

"I drew 'Starry Night' because I like the swirls of the wind and the cypress tree." - Priya

"I drew the Ranney clock tower. I used swirls and short strokes like Vincent van Gogh." - Colette

"I loved doing this drawing. I love the swirls, the trees, the moon and the wind. The wind is amazing." - Nick

"Instead of doing 'Starry Night,' I did 'City Night' with city buildings in the place of Vincent van Gogh's village. The gray in the sky represents the pollution of the city." - Ankush

"I drew an ocean with shells and fish swimming" -  Michael

" I drew the water and a sunset in the background. Like van Gogh, I created the ocean as lines." - Luke

"I found a picture of a poppy field and drew it like van Gogh." - Andrew 

"I noticed how van Gogh made his swirls and filled my flower with swirls." - Emma

FIRST GRADE . . . A snowy scene

Landscape by Tyler

Our first grade landscapes feature watercolor birch trees, and just like the rest of New Jersey, they are covered in snow!

Birch trees have a very characteristic bark, very similar in appearance to the trees in Tyler's painting above. A birch is a medium sized tree that can reach up to 50 feet in height and can live to be 200 years old. The deep ridges in our trees are typical of an older birch tree. The seeds and the bark provide food for forest animals, such as rabbits, deer and birds. Wood from the birch tree can be used to make canoes, basketball courts, toys, furniture and paper!

Armaan's landscape with the tape removed

To create our landscapes, we used an old painter's trick. After drawing a ground line across the page, first graders placed strips of masking tape on their paper. These strips represented the trees and the tape protected the white bark of the trees from getting covered with watercolor paints. Then we painted a sky using brilliant blues, reds, greens and yellows.

When the paint set, the strips of tape were peeled off the paper. Using a Sharpie marker, students drew the deep ridges of the birch tree bark. With test paper and more watercolors, we "watered" down some black paint to create just the right shade for the shadow along the bark of each tree. With another color, we cast a shadow over the snowy ground.


Here are some more examples of our beautiful winter landscapes. To see all of our work, follow this link to our home page of Artsonia!    http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Landscape by Adella

Landscape by Brooks

Landscape by Lexi M.

Landscape by Kyra

FIRST GRADE . . . We are weavers!

Weaving by Joy

First Graders learned how to weave with yarn on a handmade loom. This is a project that celebrates the art and culture of the Native Americans and teaches us a wonderful technique using patterns. Our finished woven designs hang from twigs that students found outside.

Our handmade looms were created out of the cardboard base from water bottle trays and we recycle these looms every year. Six slits are cut into both ends of the cardboard and yarn is strung from top to bottom creating the warp (or vertical) strings of the loom.

Next students choose a color of yarn to weave with. We learned how to measure the yarn against a table edge by working in pairs with our friends. One student holds the end of the yarn against the end of the table and the other student unrolls the yarn to match the length of the table and cuts it off.

To weave with our colored yarns, we learned how to follow a pattern of "Over, Under, Over, Under, Over, Under." Not only is the process of weaving a pattern, but we can also create a pattern by alternating our colors of yarn.

Here are some examples of our completed woven designs. To see all of our work, follow this link to our home page of Artsonia!  http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839  

Weaving by Mia G.

Weaving by Vincent

Weaving by Claire

Weaving by Crystal

FIFTH GRADE . . . Designing a stamp

Fifth grade artists honored the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, jr. by designing a postage stamp in his memory. In this video, you can see how we describe our drawings and offer an artist statement to our friends in class.

FIFTH GRADE . . . Let our voices be heard in the New Year!

Sketch by Grace
"I drew the zero like that because it represents the ball drop. I colored the other numbers solid, so you can focus on the zero."

B day is art day for fifth grade. That means bringing in a sketchpad with a drawing of something . . . it could be a realistic interpretation, a cartoon sketch, or even a colorful design. This week we celebrated the New Year and artists drew the numbers 2016 in a fun way.

Sketch by Ashley
"2015 is in the past and 2016 is moving in."

We are learning how to give an artist statement to the class. This will give the audience more information about the drawing and get everyone excited about what is being presented. Here are a few examples of our New Year's sketches and the words of the artists describing what they created.
Happy New Year everyone!

Sketch by Brandon
"2016 sped in, riding on the exhaust of a car!"

Sketch by Maria
"Each number is filled with something you might have done during the year. The 2 means all of the crazy things you did last year. The O means going to the beach. The 1 is everything in your house. The 6 stands for your friends and family." 

Sketch by Tyge
"Once upon a time there was a sad buffalo. He was bored all the time. On the last day of 2015 he was surprised when the ball dropped on him and he became AWESOME!" 

Sketch by Hamin
"I drew fireworks to celebrate 2016. Soon it will be the Chinese New Year and it is the year of the Monkey."

Sketch by Colette
"I was experimenting with dimension. I wanted the numbers to stand out on the page.

Sketch by David
"I wanted the numbers to look like 3D birthday candles."

You are welcome to add comments below. Our artists would love to hear from you!

FOURTH GRADE. . . We are illusionists!

Illusion by Hunter

Op Art is a form of visual art that tricks our eyes into seeing impossible looking effects with an image on a page. It is usually an abstract design created with either straight or curvy lines. The placement of the lines, together with high contrast in color, makes us see vibrating patterns or a swelling or warping of the page when it actually is perfectly flat. Our circle projecting out of our grid is just an illusion.

Illusion by Dakota

Fourth graders went back in time (to my generation of working artists) before computers made quick work of creating grids, lines and circles. Our focus this year is exploring the many tools available to artists to create their images, We took advantage of a computer for our last project, but this time I pulled out our art room table top drafting tables. Each student learned how to hold a T-square and rule perfectly parallel lines, just as I had to do back in the day. Changing the orientation of the paper allowed us to create another set of parallel lines, perpendicular to the first set. With Op art, the illusion will not work if the lines are not perfectly placed in the image. Our fourth grade draftsmen learned how to measure correctly with a ruler and were remarkably steady with their T-Squares.

Illusion by Crosby

A compass was used to create the outline of the circle. The illusion comes from the distortion of the lines inside the circle. As the horizontal grid lines touch the edge of the circle, those lines curve upward or downward following the shape of the circle. The same thing happens with the vertical lines.

Just a side note . . . students who love math got a kick out of this project! Artists use math all the time when they determine composition, shape and measurements for their projects. With this project, just look at this long list of math vocabulary terms that are also so important to art . . .

Vertical
Horizontal
Perpendicular
Radius
Parallel
Inch increments

To see all of our optical illusions, check out our exhibit on our home page of Artsonia.com!  http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Note to families...
This art blog will be updated regularly with new posts sharing our daily activities in the art room and news about upcoming art exhibits. To respect the privacy of our students, names will always be limited to first name only and identifiable photos will never be accompanied with a name. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to write in the comment box below or send me an email at blevine@ranneyschool.org. I would love to hear from you!
    In my class, students are given the chance to explore different materials and fun new techniques as they develop their signature style. Some young artists love to draw with a pencil, some like to paint on canvas or create images in a digital format, while others prefer working with clay and molding three-dimensional forms. In my classroom, we use a variety of materials allowing all artists to experiment and figure out which type of art they like the best. At Ranney School, we place a strong emphasis on originality and celebrate artistic differences, always nurturing and encouraging the imagination of every student.
     Remember to check out our display of finished artwork and student portfolios in the Ranney home page of Artsonia.com.  http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

BEGINNERS... Let it snow!

Snowman by Hayden

Snowman by Mariella

Beginner artists are continuing to become more confident drawing and painting circles. Our snowmen paintings began with three large circles painted with a big brush and white paint. The snowflakes are small circles painted with our finger prints! Then we added more finger prints for the eyes and the buttons. With a brush each artist also added a hat, a scarf and brown twigs for the arms.

What would you add to your snowman?

Snowman by Andrew

Snowman by David

Snowman by Lily

Snowman by Marlena

Snowman by Matthew

Snowman by Odin

Snowman by Oliver

Snowman by Patrick