THIRD GRADE. . . Painting like Kandinsky

Concentric Shapes by Sydney Z.

Kandinsky

Third graders learned about Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), a Russian born artist who made his name working in an art style called Expressionism. Kandinsky was very much inspired by music. His paintings often reflected the sounds and repetitive rhythms of a musical composition. He also felt that color could express emotion and tell a story, even though the composition was pure abstract art. In Kandinsky's "Squares with Concentric Circles," he experimented by combining shapes with different colors simply to see which ones felt right to him.

To begin our project, third graders had a lesson on how to use a ruler. We divided our papers into six squares, measuring and ruling out the lines of our squares. In each square we drew a simple shape. Some students drew all circles, just like Kandinsky. In Sydney's example above, there is a different shape for each box. We then painted in each shape and added rings of color around each shape.

Here are other examples of our third grade abstract paintings. To see all of our work, follow this link to our exhibit page on artsonia.com.   http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Concentric Shapes by Connor G.

Concentric Shapes by Mia G.

Concentric Shapes by Sloane P.

Concentric Shapes by Ansh P.

Concentric Shapes by Lyla G.

KINDERGARTEN . . . Our colorful dogs!

Orange Dog by Olivia

"Why is Blue Dog Blue?" is a colorful picture book, written and illustrated by George Rodrigue. In this story, Blue Dog changes color for many reasons. For example, what color does Mr. Rodrigue paint his dog when he eats a hot dog? Mustard, of course!

We learned how to draw a sitting dog in our class, following the pose of the familiar Blue Dog. Then we set about choosing just the perfect color for our dogs. Some of our dogs stayed blue, others were painted turquoise, magenta, black, orange... What color would you paint your dog, and why? As always we focus on the story behind the artwork we make. Kindergarteners described the color of their painted dogs and why they picked that color.

Here are some of our stories. To see all of our Kindergarten dogs, follow this link to our exhibit page on artsonia.com.   http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Magenta Dog by Chloe

Turquoise Dog by Lila

Brown Dog by Sal

Blue Dog by Patrick

Turquoise Dog by Gabriella

Pink Dog by Kaitlyn

BEGINNERS . . . Drawing and Painting

Painting by Catherine

Our Beginner artists created these wonderful scenes with mixed colors of paint and adorable crayon drawings. We used blue and white paint to create a light blue color for the sky and added brush strokes of white on top as fluffy clouds. Yellow and blue mixed together gave us the perfect grassy green color for the ground. Our animals were drawn with crayons and we used circles and lines to create them.

Painting by Adam

Painting by Akira

Painting by Angela

Painting by Axl

Painting by Francesco

Painting by Jai

Painting by Lia

Painting by Noah

Painting by Sebastian

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

SECOND GRADE . . . A Norman Rockwell Scene

Gianna E.

Second graders created landscapes of Ranney School. Can you recognize some of the buildings in Gianna's illustration? She drew a remarkable likeness of the Clock Tower, the Lower School building, the GPA and the Commons. But even more impressive are her details of the winter tree, the flag waving in the sky, the school bus filled with children, and the lovely and creative sky. We look at and admire these details to better appreciate her story of Ranney School.

Inspired by the artwork of Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), we saw how the amazing details of Rockwell's scenes help capture our interest and tell us his story about life in 20th century America. The image below is a street scene of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, the town where he lived. Norman Rockwell not only included the buildings on Main Street in Stockbridge, but he filled his painting with people and cars passing by to give us a sense of what life was like in his town. We can also tell it takes place during December by the Christmas decorations on the buildings, the bare trees outside, and the snow on the ground.

To create our landscapes, we looked carefully at the architectural details of the buildings on our campus. For the most part, the buildings all start off as a rectangle and many of them have a triangular roof just over the front door. Adding special details, such as the windows, the columns, a flag, a winter tree, a sign, and kids playing outside, help to describe what we see at our school.

Here are some more wonderful examples of our landscapes. To admire all of our work, follow this link to our exhibit page on artsonia.com.   http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Scout M.

William K.

Ava C.

Timmy K.

Alina P.

FIRST GRADE . . . Birch trees in the snow

Landscape by Asha

Our first grade landscapes feature watercolor birch trees. Students not only learned facts about these remarkable trees, but they also learned a few painting tips along the way!

Birch trees have a very characteristic bark, very similar in appearance to the trees in Asha'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!

Bella's trees after the
masking tape is 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 colors.

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 Deegan

Landscape by Nikita

Landscape by Marc

Landscape by Judah

Landscape by Sadie

FIRST GRADE . . . Weavings!

Weaving by Shiven

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 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 colors of yarn. The completed weavings were then removed from the cardboard looms and they now hang from twigs that the students found outside and brought into school.

To see all of our weavings, follow this link to our 1st grade exhibit on artsonia.com.
http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Weaving by Andrew

Weaving by Holden

Weaving by Harley

Weaving by Lexi

Weaving by Robby

Weaving by Alex

PRE-KINDERGARTEN . . . Rainbow Fish!

Underwater scene by Angela

Pre-Kindergarten students just completed an underwater scene 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 a circle 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 glittering paints we added all the details of our 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 Pre-K exhibit.  http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Underwater scene by Arjun

Underwater scene by Aaliya

Underwater scene by Logan

Underwater scene by Sareena