Art Curriculum- Week 19- Zentangle Valentines

Week 19- Zentangle Valentines

Our last zentangle project involved making a massive 3D snowflake. To view it click here.

This project was purely for fun. It's simple enough, however the kids needed a lot of encouragement to keep going since they would lose energy and want to quit. It helped that this wasn't the kids first time doing a zentangle project.

What you will need:

-colored paper
-black marker

Time: 45 minutes (approx)

Prep: I printed an empty heart on white paper; filled in the lines with a ruler; then printed the filled in heart on red paper.

I suggest having several patterns prepared to show the kids that they can look at. Then if they don't know what to fill in, you can give them suggestions. Look up zentangle patterns and different zentangle projects for fun. There's a lot you can do!

For the younger ones I suggested: Circles, zig zags, hearts, swirlies, etc.
For the older ones I suggested: "Fish" scales, checkered patterns, etc.

Overall: A simple and attractive project. Might require a lot of guidance.

Related blog posts:

-Watercolor Trees
-Pointillism

(logging 1 hours for prep and execution)

Art Curriculum- Week 15- Eye of Surrealism

Week 15- Eye of Surrealism

Welcome back to the 2015 school year! We began our 2nd half of the school year with a simple project on surrealism.

Our last project in December involved making "dancing snowmen" accompanied by a story involving what snowmen do at night. :) To view it click here.

Category: Surrealism

What you will need:

-simple eye coloring sheet (I drew my own eye, but if you don't want to Google has an endless supply)
-markers (2 different blues = 1 light/1dark, a black marker)

Time: 30 minutes (at the most)

• Each child got their own eye to color and a blank piece of paper
  
• I taught them how to make clouds (pictured below) and rain drops. We discussed our favorite kinds of weather. I then explained that what we were doing was called surrealism, where you take something normal and put a twist on it. So if you're favorite weather was a pink and orange sunset and you really liked trees; then you could paint a pink and orange sunset with a pretty tree in your eye to represent that.

Practice Sheets:

• Draw clouds first in lighter blue and raindrops in darker blue
  
• color the raindrops dark
  
• fill in the rest of the sky with the lighter blue
  
• draw in the pupil with a black marker

And taa-daa! That's it!

Overall: A very simple project and easy to execute if pressed for time.

Related posts:

-Fauvism and Zebras
-Self-Portrait

(logging 1 hour for prep and execution)

Art Curriculum- Week 4- Self Portrait

Week 4- Self Portrait

Last week's lesson involved painting a 3D cube. To view it click here.

Artistic Movement: Renaissance

What you'll need:
-copy paper
-markers

Time: 30-45 minutes tops

The purpose of this lesson was to create a self portrait. They had to look at the colors of their clothing and any patterns and try to incorporate that into their picture.

I ran off multiple copies of a stick figure. The bottom left picture is mine. While I drew I continuously pointed out the color of their shirts, their eyes, or the fact some of them had stripes on their clothing.

The original intent was just to draw hair and clothes; but the kids asked about making grass and sky and flowers and so we ended up with these lovely drawings including gardens and castles. :)

For the most part they took this project in stride and I didn't have to instruct so much as give suggestions and try to guide them to being a bit more detailed in things like curly hair vs. straight hair.

Overall: The kids enjoyed the project immensely, it needed next to no prep, and required minimal instruction.



Related Posts:
Week 3- Tri Toned Cube
Week 2- 1 Point Perspective
Week 1- Gridding

(logging 45 minutes for prep and execution time)

Galadriel- WIP Drawing

Today I thought I'd post the WIP of one of my favorite drawings. Galadriel is an elvish queen who is portrayed by Cate Blanchette in in Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" and "Hobbit" movie trilogies. Galadriel is the original character of JRR Tolkien.

“In Dwimordene,in Lorien
Seldom have walked the feet of Men,
Few mortal eyes have seen the light
That lies there ever,long and bright.
Galadriel!Galadriel!

Clear is the water of your well;
White is the star in your white hand;
Unmarred,unstained is leaf and land
In Dwimordene,in Lorien
More fair than thoughts of Mortal Men.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

 

 

Sketchbook #4

Happy Sketchy Tuesday! :)

First is what appears to be a knot. I copied it for fun from a simple step-by-step on Pinterest.

This is based off of another art piece I saw on Pinterest. :) This is a fun, simplistic piece. I edited it to give it color.

Sketchbook #2

Heyloeth everyone! We're back to Sketchy Tuesday.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years!

First: Simple lamp post.

Second: I attempt to get in some practice drawing a whole body. I used a reference photo and added some personal touches in the appearance of the dancer. The arms are questionable... one of them is too short I think. Oh well it's all practice.

Third: I used Photoshop to merge the two together. It's not anything genius but I'm pleased with it.

Sketchbook #1

I've been working in my sketchbook all of December.

Alas I haven't been posting as much as I would've liked; life has been charging along with its usual energy. :)

I hope everyone has been enjoying their holiday season. Where I am we've had a decent fall of snow (at last!) though the forecast is threatening to send it away.

Here are some excerpts from my sketchbook. :)

Sherlock. I went over it with
watercolor.

I used a sketch I found on a Pinterest as a reference photo

I decided to draw a calendar and then fill it in with dates in
no particular order.

I punched holes in several pages to add texture. :)
The top page contains quotes from
"Atlas" from Catching Fire

Quick sketch of the dragon on my cover of the Hobbit book.
The swirls in the border all have different
locations of middle-earth written around them.

Tardis from Doctor Who.
Colored with prismacolor pencils.

I couldn't resist uploading a picture of the
snow Tardis my niece and I made! :D

Sketch- Katniss (finished)

I finished my November WIP!!! Roughy 8-9 hours.

It is Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games. This particular piece is to celebrate Catching Fire's premiere last Friday.

I saw it Saturday. I AM AWED AND STUNNED I LOVE IT.

And of course my favorite guy FINNICK is present. To say why he's my favorite however would be giving spoilers.

Here's the unedited version-

Sketch- November WIP (update)

This is what happens when I get really into a piece...
Suddenly I'll notice I have 6 different things floating between my hands.

I bring an update on my November WIP! ^_^

Anybody have a guess as to who it is?

Farther along-ish with the hair

Lots of adjustments to the face... :)

Sketch- November WIP

I've got a WIP for November.

This isn't a sketch, but it'll do.

I'm updating as I go on my FB page.

https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=710574545625274&__user=100003162808345

The fun with this drawing is that I'm not going to say who it is until it's finished. If you know who it is, let me know. ^_^

Here's what it looks like right now:

Sketch- magical beings

Heyloeth guys,

It's sketchy Tuesday. While watching The Hobbit (again, yes) I worked on a couple pen sketches which I colored with Prismacolor pencils.

Freehand. I used reference photos for their poses. Their arms and hands are definitely strange, but I still like these little pieces. :)

Blood Always Tells

Heyloeth guys,

'Tis Thursday so a writing piece is due. :)

This week for American Lit. I had to read a short story titled "The Telling-Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. It's an unnerving tale told with an insistent voice.

The basics of the plot are that a young man murders an older man. What I wrote is told from the perspective of the old man after he's murdered. However the route I decided to go is different, because there's no human conscience present, it's just his body and his blood and how they "react."

It's very... disconnected, because there's no one being to control and direct the thoughts.

While it would mean more to you if you read "The Telling-Heart," hopefully this will be an interesting way to spend a few minutes of your time.

To find out why the younger man murders the older man, click here: The Telling Heart

(the last part in italics is from "The Telling-Heart," I own none of Poe's characters or his words, no copyright infringement is intended and I make no profit from this)

Blood Always Tells

At first silence is the only sound.

Red rivers flood and collide with twisting rushes of dark water. Red rivers roll and submerge themselves in the essence of simply being. They no longer belong to anything or anyone, they are themselves.

Now they are thinning and running apart until they vanish in the wisps of rusted drains and porcelain bodies.

The blood of the murdered has already been lost. Nobody remembers it anymore.
_____

The bones and flesh lie in condemned shadows.

Abandoned… but are they forgotten? Whispers of life still wets their thrumming shapes.

The murdered is gone. And yet they quiver in remembrance, of what it was to move and feel stone and glass.

Now all they feel is each other.

And hate.

Frantically the bones sing out and snatch at the life misting away into the clotted air. Flesh cries out.

The final traces from the vanished rivers of red stir in agony.

All together they give a final push.
_____

A ringing beat.

One. Two. Three…

The heart is alive.

It is a slow and ponderous beat… It quickens.

It dips, it pounds, it marches as if to rise out of the earth where stained hands laid it.
_____

It grew louder --louder --louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! --no, no! They heard! --they suspected! --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now --again! --hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!

"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart!

-THE END-

marker and pencil - quote from Evanescence's song "My Immortal"
edited in Pixlr-o-matic

Sketch- Thorin

Today is Tuesday!

Each Tuesday I will try to post a sketch of some kind, old or new. :)

Tonight I sat down and attempted to draw Thorin freehand, with a pen.

In an odd way, it went better than expected, and worse than I would've liked. :P Now someday I'm going to have to sit down for a whole week and come out with a super detailed portrait of Thorin to make myself feel better, but for now this'll do for Tuesday's post.

I added some special effects, which isn't the idea of posting a "simple" sketch, but it does look cooler. ^_^ His facial shape is not correct, and his mouth doesn't carry the right emotion...

No no no... this is a sketch. This was an experiment in the first place, I had no planning beforehand, I had a pen and went with it. I was trying to play with the crosshatching method. For something I don't do often, it went alright.

What do you guys think?

Music I listened to: The Voice was on... *shrugs* :)

For non-Tolkien fans - Thorin Oakenshield is a character created by JRR Tolkien and is a major character in The Hobbit. What you see here was done from a reference photo of Thorin as portrayed by Richard Armitage in Peter Jackson's film (soon to be) trilogy, The Hobbit.

Life Drenched Stars- a poem

Pondering Rain

Every Friday or Thursday, depending on my the happenings in my fascinating world, I will try to share a piece of my writing with an illustration. Anything from a poem, short short story, or just ramblings.
 

Life Drenched Stars 

Let us bide our time
in empty windows
in shafts of time 

Let us watch for love
in all its glory
before it fades away 

Let us gaze upon ice
and falling stars
In hollowly stained skies 

Let us dream of them
with moonlight in their skin
and Life drenched upon their faces

This was inspired by a talk with a friend and influenced a bit by The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. A beautiful book. The illustration was created from a drawing of mine from over a year ago.

Méav Ní MhaolchathaFormer singer from the Irish group Celtic Woman

Pixlr- Online Photo Editor

I've discovered a delightful photo editing program. For free, online. They offer apps for your phone also but I have yet to try those. If they're as fun as the online programs then I'd love to have them.

The photo editor, Pixlr, has 3 different editors: Advanced, Efficient, and Playful. I chose to go with Playful tonight.

Advanced offers you the chance to start from a blank canvas, choose your dimensions, etc. while Efficient has the option of creating a collage with the ability to change all of the sizes of the pictures to your exact specifications.

Playful allows you to add effects and borders from a vast variety of choices. Vintage, classic, city, snazzy, girly, faded, etc. You can spend hours just clicking through all of them and mixing styles because all of them look good. :)

Link- http://pixlr.com/

Two Steps From Hell was my inspirational music. Heavy and dramatic.

First Experiment- a drawing of mine. This is drawn from the cover of "The Children of Hurin" by JRR Tolkien, illustrated by Alan Lee. I do not own this character, or the illustration. I drew this for my pleasure and out of my admiration for all things Tolkien.

Before

                                         after1

after2

I love the mix of textures and color in "After1" though the spiderweb in the corner almost spoils the "cool/fantasy" effect.

In "After2" I get the feeling he's looking into a fire, or is about to enter something fierce and terrifying like a war. Considering this particular characters story, that might be the most accurate message.

Second Experiment- Next I took a piece from my photography stash, the flower was already blue and the background was solid black from previous edits. I decided to take it a step further. I really really like this one.

This was all for fun, because I love to mess around with creations even after I've scratched and shaded and erased them to almost perfection.

Wishing you all the best,

~Bright

"smoky blue"

9/11 Statistics



copic markers, gel pen

9/11 Statistics
The piece I bring today is in memory of 9/11.

It’s a compilation of a few of the vast statistics and a diagram of sorts for the 4 flights.

I put the information I used into a semblance of order below, these are very limited, but I hope they convey something of the tragedy of “the worst day.”

I connected each flight to its destination. The red words on the curving lines are words I saw repeatedly when I read a transcript from “Voices Inside the Tower.” I had the last letters falling off to allude to those who jumped.

All statistics are garnered from here (check it out for a far more wholesome list):
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/aug/18/usa.terrorism

Facts:
Year the World Trade Center was built: 1970
Daily visitors on an average day before 9/11: 140,000
Number of companies housed: 430

Distance from which burning towers were visible: 20 miles

Flights:
American Airlines Flight 11: 92 dead (Crashed into the North Tower)
United Airlines Flight 175: 65 dead (Crashed into the South Tower)
American Airlines Flight 77: 64 dead (Crashed into the Pentagon)
United Airlines Flight 93: 45 dead (Crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania)

9/11:
Number killed in attack and aircraft that crashed into them: 2,823
Number killed in the Pentagon: 123

Aftershock:
Number of children left orphans after 9/11: 1,300
Number of bodies found intact: 291
Number of days workers searched for body parts: 230
Number of victims identified: 1,102
Number of people still classified as missing: 105

Underground fires that still burned after 9/11: 69

Survivors of Ground Zero: 0

Morzan

This is Morzan. A character belonging to Christopher Paolini, author of the Inheritance Cycle.

I used an app to tint it red, but otherwise it's just a drawing.

Somebody on Fanfiction.net wrote a story in Paolini's world and asked if I could draw his take on Morzan's character... and this was the result. :)