The Versatile Blogger Award!

I've been on school holidays for 2 weeks. So everyday I have checked my blog and many of my fellow bloggers and to my surprise I received The Versatile Blogger Award from both Marilena (http://explorationinart.blogspot.com) and Kristie (http://kids-finelines.blogspot.com/
).  I must say I feel so very proud to have received an award from such outstanding art educators.  I feel very humble and it definitely brought a smile to my face. Thank you so very much!


I spend many hours reading and learning about the many wonderful art activities and stories.  Blogging is such a wonderful platform to share, explore and discuss all things art.


The three requirements to receiving this award are:

1. Link back to the person who awarded you;
2. List 7 things about yourself;
3. Pass the award along to other blogs that I enjoy reading.

About myself:

1. I live in Bulla, a semi-rural suburb in Melbourne, Australia.
2. My parents migrated to Australia in 1963 from Sicily, Italy.
3. I'm proud to say that I am fluent in Italian.
4. I am a qualified Italian teacher and have taught Italian as a second language for 17 years and for the last 3 years I have begun to teach art.  A big career change but a good one.
5. I'm on the quest of becoming a better person, so I am forever reading self improvement books.
6. I love travelling. I've been to Italy 5 times and hope to visit the US next year with the family.
7. I love teaching and learning.

The following art blogs are my favourites:

1. http://mrspicassosartroom.blogspot.com
2. http://eshelmanartcca.blogspot.com
3. http://mrsmaynardsartroom.blogspot.com
4. http://artwithmre.blogspot.com
5. http://kids-finelines.blogspot.com
6. http://plbrown.blogspot.com
7. http://minimatisse.blogspot.com
8. http://barbarasthoughtoftheday.blogspot.com
9. http://newcityarts.blogspot.com/
10. http://marymaking.blogspot.com

I do have many more blogs that I enjoy reading and I'm always on the quest to discover new ones.

 

Picasso Portraits

I decided that my focus for term 1, was going to be colour and portraits.  So students across Prep to Year 6 undertook portraits using different techniques and art styles.  I'm sure they are going to make quite a statement at our annual art show.


The Year 3 and 4 students focused on Picasso portraits.  Before commencing the project we looked at Picasso and learnt he was one of the most important artists of the 1900s.  My focus for the students was to create a cubist style portrait.  The students learnt that cubists broke down people, objects and landscapes into simple shapes in their art.  


We began by drawing with a lead pencil. They then traced their lines with Black Giotto Maxi markers and used Crayola crayons. I encouraged the students to use complementary colours as much as possible. The colouring in was paramount to make this project outstanding.  


Once again, they have produced amazing art work. Although at times, some students became tired because the colouring in become tedious... it was well worth the hard work...

Modigliani Portraits

During the early 1900s in Paris, the Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani, b. July 12, 1884, d. Jan. 24, 1920, developed a unique style. He is famous now for his elegant, elongated nudes, but it is portraits that are the most extraordinary.


Our focus for first term was colour and portraits.  The year 1 and 2 students were challenged with attempting to draw and paint a Modigliani.  We briefly studied the painter and viewed some of his wonderful portraits.


The introduction of the drawing style was explicit in it's delivery.  First the students drew their initial portraits with lead pencils.  Black Giotto Maxi markers were used to outline portraits.  Bold colours were used for painting.  


When you look at these extraordinary portraits, it's hard to believe that these have been created by 6 and 7 year olds.  AMAZING!!!

Year 5/6 Romero Britto Portraits

This term's focus was on colour.  Last year I discovered the talented Romero Britto (http://www.britto.com/) and absolutely loved his contemporary art work and thought that his style would interest my students.  So I took the plunge and introduced Britto to my students.  We looked at his biography and viewed his amazing art work.  The students' task was to create a fun portrait capturing Britto's style of colour and pattern.  They had to use bold lines in their art work.  They used black markers and vibrant oil pastels.  This task was challenging but the results were outstanding.

Prep Self-Portraits

I'm very proud of my youngest students.  We have been working all term on portraits and developing the idea of detail and character in our portraits We used chalk pastel.  I wasn't sure how my Preps were going to cope with blending colours and really exploring the possibilities.  Well, once again I was totally surprised and so very pleased with the results.  It is so wonderful to see the Prep students develop so dramatically in such a short time.  Well children, Mrs P is so very proud of you all!