The Animals have escaped the Art Center

It has been a busy week at the Art Center.  We are in our 2nd week of Arts After School--Drawing.  The first picture is a warm-up exercise I like to call Lines and Dots.  The lines and dots drawn in black are the ones I draw on the board.  The students copy them and then have 3 minutes to create.  It is very interesting watching the students create such different images and most of the time they are things I would never thought of.  The green drawings were a student's interpretation of the lines and dots for that day.  The kids seem to really like this warm-up we do four 3 minutes drawings.  It is a great focusing activity as you can see from the pictures.

The drawings are things I have found around the classroom.  One is a student's sketchbook.  We start with these everyday.  We draw in silence for 5 minutes to start our day.  The students can draw whatever they want.  They write stories or draw creatures/characters.   

Week one of drawing we started with animals.  I think I have mentioned before, my student's love to draw on the white board, so I used this as a teaching tool.  The student's had to teach the class how to draw an animal.  We had birds, a cat, dog, sharks, and then creatures with animal features.  It was fun.  I got to draw with the class.  I believe it is important for students to see their teachers participating and working along side them.

The last drawing/painting this week was a one-point perspective drawing.  It was a very interesting project for me to observe my students’ thought process.  My students range from 3rd grade to 6th grade.  If you look at the paintings some still see buildings as being flat and others were starting to explore creating

3-dimensional buildings on a 2-dimensional surface.    This is a highlight of my job.  I love seeing the light bulb go off, whether it be in a physical reaction (like a smile or wanting to show me) or seeing it in the artwork itself.