4th and 5th grade - Still Life - Student Examples

Last week, the fourth and fifth grade classes focused on some drawing and shading skills as they drew a simple still life in the center of the room.  Here are some of the best student examples!

2nd grade - Pastel Landscapes - Student Examples

The pastel landscapes are turning out very beautifully!  Here are just a few examples of what the students in Miss Maurin's class have been doing.  Each photo shows not only the student's work, but also the photo reference landscape the student was using for landscape inspiration!

6th grade - Mandalas - Student Examples

2nd grade - Landscape

We learned that landscape means 'picture of land'. We looked at lots of different types of landscapes to get lots of ideas for our own landscape painting.








We reviewed that the sky comes all the way down to the ground and the ground comes up to meet the sky at a place called the HORIZON LINE.

However, we also found examples of landscapes that had no sky in it at all!







Today we finished up our thumbnail sketches and drew our image onto a piece of colored paper that matched the main color in the reference photo chosen by the student. Then each pencil line was covered with a black crayon line. The crayon lines will help us control the next step of the project.



Tomorrow, we will be using pastels to paint these landscapes. Pastels are soft chalk. They can be very messy, but are extremely fun!  This is why we are using  the black crayon.  They are my favorite medium to use.







Pastels seem to glow, and the crayon lines will help prevent blurring and smearing on the edges of objects in the pictures.

6th grade - Miss Albaugh's Class Two Point Perspective Student Examples

5th grade - Soda Can Competition!

Congratulations to Wyatt and Natalie in Mr. Christofferson's class!  Wyatt won first place and Natalie won second place in the 5th grade soda can competition!

The Soda Can Competition is an advertising art lesson.  Those students who want to enter create a soda name and label of their very own, tape it onto an empty soda can, and bring it in.  This is not a required assignment.  Only those who want to try to win the prize participate.  The voting on best soda design is done by the 6th grade students.  The first place winner receives a 2 liter of the soda of their choice!  This year, my second place winner was only 1 point short of the winner, so I awarded her with a smaller bottle of the soda of her choice.  Everyone who participated received a small treat for his/her efforts.  This competition is highly anticipated every year.

5th grade - Human Body Proportion - Student Work

6th grade - Mandala

Mandala is a Sanskrit word for 'circle'.  Mandalas can be found in many cultures around the world, from Buddhist meditation circles, to Navajo sand circle art, to circular walking labyrinths used to center the mind.  Even Christian Rose Windows have their historical foundations in Mandalas.

To learn more about Mandalas, I invite you to visit the Mandala Project, where you can see many beautiful examples of mandalas from artists all over the world!

1st grade - Textures

Today in class we used rubbing plates and crayons to explore textures as a topic for the first time. The kids had such a fun time that they had a hard time putting the crayons and plates away at clean up time!

Here is a 'homework' challenge! As a family activity, go on a texture hunt through your house! Using a crayon and a piece of paper, create rubbings of as many different textures as you can find. After 5 minutes, gather together when the timer goes off and see who found the most different textures!

This is not required homework and does not need to be brought to class for credit.  It is just for fun!

1st grade - Line and Texture

My first grade students spent a couple of days working with lines and textures. Each student placed several different kinds of lines on their paper with a black crayon. After placing the lines, the students used texture rubbing plates to fill the paper with colorful textures. They were encouraged to try multiple layers of textures and multiple layers of coordinating colors. Everyone had lots of fun!

Kindergarten - Marble Painting

This week, the kindergarten classes made crazy paintings using marbles in tempera paint.  This is only their second week in art and they are still a little shy at first.  Paint has a wonderful way of bringing kids together and making friends.  Before long, everyone was having a GREAT time!

2nd grade - Nature Sculptures

Today we made nature sculptures inspired by land art. We looked at artists such as, Andy Goldsworthy, Robert Smithson, and Richard Long. The day before we went on a nature walk to collect beautiful items and today we worked as groups to make some interesting shapes. It was a lot of fun! - Mrs. Oxborrow

2nd grade - Nature and Art

Today the students in Miss Maurin's class took a walk in the park, gathering some objects from nature they could use in various art projects during the rest of the week.  Stay tuned for more information to come!

Mrs. Oxborrow

My name is Mrs. Oxborrow and I am a student teacher here at Harvest Hills for the next six weeks. I'm excited to be in the art classroom with Mrs. Watson. I am already learning so much from her. I'm from Orem and in my last year at BYU. I love art, interior design, scuba diving, and delicious food! It will be a great opportunity for me at Harvest Hills. The kids are great and I'm excited to see their natural artistic abilities.