Chalk Pastel Klee Cats

Grade 3 students made these charming chalk pastels cat drawings  inspired by 

the delightful Paul Klee painting "Cat and Bird" (Katze und Vogel). 

Klee was a Swiss artist who had a wide range of styles throughout his career. One of his main influences, though, was children's art. He was fascinated by their art- the simple lines as well as their innate creativity. You can see this influence in "Cat and Bird" with it's simple lines and cat head composed of simple shapes. 

I love the cat's large, unwavering, hypnotic eyes.

Students first looked at the painting and I asked them why they thought a bird might be on top of this cat's head. I got a few different answers including, "The bird is just resting on his head eating small insects", I guess like a beneficial parasite- cleaning the cat! lol  

I prompted the 'suggestion' that maybe the cat was thinking/dreaming about the bird (eerm, to eat it?) Perhaps the artist wanted to show what was happening in the cat's mind. So the kids had to think of one 'thing' their cat would be thinking of and include that in their drawing.

Paul Klee, "Cat and Bird", 1928, oil & ink on canvas     Source

 Students started off by drawing a simple line drawing of the hat's head and what it was thinking of. 

I have to reeeaally encourage this age group to draw LARGE- fill the page!!

Then outline all the pencil lines with a dark marker, crayon or colored pencil.

Once the drawing is outlined, erase any stray pencil lines that are still showing (craftsmanship!!)

Now you're left with a lovely crisp, clean drawing.

Demo or review how to use chalk pastels. I emphasized soft blending using a finger or a paper towel, using the side of the pastel, mixing colours, and using the same 4-5 colours throughout the whole drawing 

in order to create harmony and unity.

chalk pastels

Grade 3 cats- ta da!

Pinch Pot Ceramic Creatures

This little guy is so expressive and creepy! He reminds me of the Rancor from Star Wars!

 

Grade 7 students made these fantastic Pinch Pot Creatures. I was super impressed with the variety and complexity of the creatures that resulted from this project!

love the crabby's beady little eyes

The head comes off...



wonky and cute!

I was so scared these arms would break off but miraculously they didn't.

Raaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrr!

cute piggy

  

 

Glazing time!! 2-3 even coats. We used "Stroke and Coat" glaze.

 

 

Glazed:

 

 

 

  

 

 

Primary Self Portraits

Grade 1 students drew these charming self-portraits. I did a very basic demonstration on the whiteboard about facial proportion. First, I asked the kids what basic shape is a head, and, happily, the majority answered 'an oval!'  So I drew a big oval. Then I showed them how many people tend to draw the eyes on a head waaaay to far up, on the forehead. I drew them there and asked them if this was right. "NOOOOO!" they all happily shouted :)  So I had them look at each other carefully and tell me where the eyes should be. Many of them were able to guess the middle of the face. 

Then I showed the kids how to draw a very light line vertically down the centre of the face and then horizontally across the middle of the face. This horizontal line would be the rough guideline for the eyes. I felt as long as they had the eyes fairly well placed, that was a good start. Then the kids first practised their self portrait on scrap paper. For a reminder, I wrote on the board the features they needed to include:  eyes, eyelashes (optional), eyebrows (so many kids forget eyebrows!!), nose, mouth, ears, neck and finally hair. They could add any accessories (glasses, jewellery, etc.) they wanted. Once they finished, they brought it to me and I helped make suggestions if areas needed improvement.

Here are some practice sketches:

Very good placement on this one.

I helped this guy 'lessen' the size of his ears (though they are so adorable large!)

I love this one above because I could see right away that the student had erased his eyes 

that were too high ('forehead eyes') and lowered them. Great job!

Once they were happy with their rough copies, they drew them again on larger paper, then coloured them in- we used multicultural crayons for both the skin and hair. For the last step, I had the kids pass over all their pencil lines (which had faded quite a bit after the colouring) with a sharp black coloured pencil.

Ta da!