Student Art Work by Paul

In a recent post (see here)  I introduced Artist Trading Cards, to inspire my students to draw something daily in class. The artwork was amazing and many of the students continue to create them, so I thought it might be nice to feature some of the students artwork.
 This week I'm introducing you to the drawings done by Paul.

 Paul has never needed to be encouraged to draw. He has always kept a sketchbook and never seems to run out of things to create.

 Laquer Head inspired by Primus

This piece was inspired by the song, Deathamphetamine by Exodus .

Day 4 in the Studio

It's -1 degrees outside this morning, so glad they decided to close school today, burr.You would think I would sleep in on such a bitter cold morning. But not me I'm such a creature of habit or should I say my dog is  we were both up at 5 am and I was in my studio with coffee in hand by 6:30am. I really am crazy!
After looking at the blog post yesterday I realized the color values in the first cactus painting were nicer than what was changed over the weekend. So that's where I started working today.

Its not finished yet. I'm not happy about those warm blue cactus and felt myself getting frustrated. That's a sign it's time to take a break. I took a photograph which always seem to help me see things differently. Tomorrow I'll look at it with fresh eyes and figure out what to do. Who said painting was easy? Make a mental note to self. "Don't stay away from the studio so long!!"

Artist Trading Cards are My New Sketchbook

Last week I decided to spend 15 minutes each day doodling on trading cards.  Their small so I thought this would be a perfect match. The next thing I knew I was working up color schemes for four paintings I had started last spring and never finished.

 The five cactus drawings / watercolor paintings are of the paintings that were never finished.

This is as far as I got last Spring on the first painting.

Its not finished yet, but I like where its going. yay!

Here's the 2nd unfinished painting.

This is were I stopped the 2nd day,

 and this is what was finished yesterday. Its still not done but I'm having so much fun!!

At this point wishing I didn't have to go back to work the next day.

Well its Monday afternoon, and I just got home from school and had to share the exacting news.

NO SCHOOL TOMORROW!  Can't wait to spend another day in my studio working on these paintings.

Finding Inspiration for Christmas Trading Cards

Students are always asking me how do I come up with things to draw. Easy I look around my house or take photographs of things I like. First day of my Christmas break while the house was quite I made a cup of coffee, found a few photographs, ornaments then grabbed my pens and watercolors and started to draw.

This is what I accomplished on Saturday morning.

The Santa in the middle still needed to be inked up. But I was ready for a break.

 Sunday morning I worked on this little guy.

Watercolor was also added to the Santas and Nutcracker that day.

 Today finished painting my crazy buildings. I just love vacation days!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

Artist Trading Cards

What do you do with twenty very chatty  Drawing 1 students who are complaining that they don't want to improve their drawing skills or learn new techniques in class? They just want to do their own thing.  Quoting a student " Mrs. Maggio, Art is suppose to be fun I already know how to draw."
  My come back. Prove it. For the next two weeks everyone has to create 1 to 2  Artist Trading cards each day in class until Christmas break. I'm going to grade your efforts each day and want 10 to 15 cards by December 20th. The only requirement is that you must draw!!!No excuses!
For those of you that have never seen an Artist Trading Card  they are 2.5 x 3.5" in size. I had never created a trading card so I started the project with them. We started the assignment December 5th, and I have 16 completed cards so far. I'm actually having fun. As for the students only 2 are keeping up with me. What do you think?

Finished Student Work

Thought I would share a few of the Expressive Color Portraits as they are being handed in.

Very proud Art Teacher

Here is the one I did.

What a Fun project!

Working with my Students on an Illustration Project

In October I had my Drawing students read several children's poems. They were asked to choose a section from the poem that spoke to them visually, and develop several thumbnail images in their sketchbook.  Their favorite image would then be turned into a Pen and Watercolor illustration.
 I haven't done an illustration in a while and decided to do the assignment with them. This is my illustration from the project..
All the poems were written by Bruce Larkin