Halloween Scenes From Still Life Objects

This is a project my fifth grade students are currently finishing, but I couldn't wait to post about it! It actually began as a still life project, but soon transformed into so much more than that. I have been trying to give the students more control over their artwork- a chance to show more creativity, when possible, and this project seemed to lend itself perfectly to that.


First, I set up a table full of Halloween & fall themed items, as seen in these photos:













This haunted house was a favorite and was used over and over again.





Then, the students were instructed to choose a place around the still life and begin drawing, using pencil. They were given 12" X 18" watercolor paper and a drawing board. The only stipulation was that they had to draw items that were in front of them. They could change the scale, position, and even deconstruct the items to create their compositions.

The drawings they came up with were very interesting and creative! They found the stars on the fabric and used them in the sky, the fence around the haunted house was used as a backdrop in some artwork, and jack-o-lanterns of all shapes and sizes smiled from many papers.

In the next step, the students traced their drawings with black permanent marker.




This one isn't painted yet. It took her a very long time to draw and outline!





Next, I introduced painting with watercolor, which is my absolute favorite medium. I encouraged them to explore mixing color, while reminding them of the color wheel and what happens when mixing complements (baby poo is what they call it!) I believed (and rightly so) that no matter the results, they would be beautiful since these were spooky Halloween paintings. We used liquid watercolors for this project. So much easier, quicker, and less expensive!










Some of the works in progress:
Loving this sky!






I was particularly drawn to this painting. I love how she made the pumpkin so large and used the round sign from the still life as the welcome sign for the haunted house. AND, she painted is bOOifully. BONUS!!!









Some of the Spooktakular works. (I couldn't resist!)



























And just to show you how much I LOVE watercolor & Halloween, here is one of my paintings, entitled "Little Aleigha Witchy-Poo." Enjoy!!

Comments

  1. MaryOctober 13, 2010 at 5:35 PM

    These are terrific! I really like the bold lines with watercolor.. And you have clearly taught them about composition. You could put them together and illustrate a children's story. And your little witch is adorable!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marcia BeckettOctober 13, 2010 at 6:21 PM

    Those are gorgeous! Great lesson plan!

    ReplyDelete
  3. PhylOctober 13, 2010 at 9:12 PM

    Fabulous. Absolutely fabulous!! I love your still life setup, and your approach. I think we're on the same page.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownSeptember 21, 2012 at 5:03 PM

    I love these. By the time Halloween season comes around, my class will have learned all about the colour wheel...this is great!!
    Can I ask how you assessed this lesson?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PicaSsO MoNstERs!

Image
I have been waiting a full year to post this project! Last year, I had to document all of the steps and by the time I did that, it was too late to blog about it. This is one of my second graders' favorite projects and it was adapted from a lesson that has been floating around the net for awhile. In that lesson, the kids all made witches, but I thought my kids would like more variety, so I came up with this. Materials : Info (books, visuals, videos) about Pablo Picasso, construction paper in all colors, scissors, glue, scissors, black marker, patterns for heads (see below), masking tape, pencils, variety of items for decorating (google eyes, glitter, pipe cleaners, etc.), metallic markers Art History: Discuss Pablo Picasso and share various examples of his cubist portraits. I show the video Dropping In On Picasso . Encounter: Step 1- The Head Hand out patterns for the monster heads, I have 4 different patterns that I hand out to each table. We discuss which shape head would
Read more

I'm A Thief!!!

Image
Yep, I admit it. I have stolen several ideas this year, mostly found on Pinterest . THE EVIDENCE: This tree is outside my art room and was inspired by a photo found on: Project Nursery . I love the way it turned out, but it took me four hours to create! I have different examples of art work inside several of the circles, along with our motto, "Let's Get Art Smart!" To go along with the polka dots on the tree, I used this idea from Art With Mr. E . I then added this phrase that I found on Mrs. Malone's Art Room . I have had lots of positive feedback on this door! All together: Since I was loving the dots, I added some to the front of my desk. Here is the corner I posted about previously . This idea is all my own... I think! I added wings and the phrase, "Time Flies When You're Making Art." Yep, stole it from Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artists. I don't know whose idea this i
Read more

Warm & Cool Swirling Leaves

Image
I've been wanting to post about these for awhile, but Blogger kept rotating my photos. Finally, I figured out how to copy & paste them in from Picassa. Yay! Warm & Cool Swirling Leaves I made these beauties with first graders. Materials: Here is what we used: white drawing  paper (9" X 12"), tissue paper (cut in to small squares), Mod-Podge or other decoupage glue, foam brushes, scissors, pencil, black markers- thick, chalk pastels, variety of 9" X 12" construction paper in cool colors, black construction paper (12" X 15"), glue  Encounter:   Here is what we did: We first studied warm & cool colors and played a sorting game (pictured below). I laminated several rectangles of construction paper & added a magnet to the back. Students take turns coming up and placing their colors in the correct area. We then decoupaged tissue paper to the white drawing paper. I gave each table a tray of tissu
Read more