Just Keep Swimming....

This school year was hard for me to switch gears from "swim team mom" to "full time working mom"... so I decided to incorporate a little of my summer into the art room.

We began by taking a look at David Hockney's California Series of Swimmers:

 

 

The kids discussed the rippling effect of the water in Hockney's painting and problem-solved to think of what type of art media we could use to create that "look" on our paper.

 

The student's started by drawing a figure (preferably themselves) swimming.... we discussed drawing bodies in motion, and proportion. After the figure was drawn, we colored in and added white crayon wiggly lines all around our swimmer.

 

 

 

 

Of course, the most fun part of all was adding the sparkling blue watercolor to the top of our drawing. My art scientists discovered that oil and water don't mix, and they crayon would repel the watercolor, creating a very cool effect on the paper.

 

 



 

 

A well-equipped swimmer.

 

 

A bathing beauty.

 

 

A very flexible fish of a guy.

Lovely Landscapes

 

 

Let's just say it.... landscapes can be boring. Yes, they teach perspective, and can meet your requirement to teach, "genre art." but, most the time they aren't very interesting.... UNLESS you look at David Hockney's landscapes!

 

 

Hockney lived in both England and the US, and his surroundings are mirrored in his work. Both the rolling meadows of England's countryside and the Hollywood Hills show up in his landscapes.

 

 

 

 



 

 

My fourth and fifth graders started by creating a line drawing using warm and cool colors to create, foreground, middle ground and background.

 

 Then added construction paper stylized trees in cool colors.

 

 

The final product was a fabulous, "mess-with-your-eyes" optical illusion of movement and color.