Monday, October 31, 2011


 1st grade students learned about Spanish artist Joan Miro. Miro's paintings were full of mystical figures, magical symbols and color. Students created their figure by looking at a few of Miro's paintings to get inspiration for their own artwork.

Students used geometric and free form shape as well as various lines to create their unique figure. Magical symbols such as stars, the moon, and the sun as well as lines were added to the background.

Students added color to their artwork to make it bright and bold like Miro.

The artwork was finished with an embellished frame.

To learn more about Joan Miro visit:


 2nd grade learned about Spanish artist Pablo Picasso! They were very excited to learn about this very famous artist! Students learned that one of Picasso's favorite subjects to paint are portraits. But, not just any portrait. He used his signature style of Cubism to make his paintings abstract. Picasso would often paint both the front view and profile of a person at the same time! 2nd graders began by drawing an abstract head and nose in profile. The colored in the parts and cut out and glued the head to a contrasting background.

Next, students drew, cut out and glued eyes, ears, mouths, hair and whatever else they could think of to their head.

 Here are some finished portraits!!

To learn more about Pablo Picasso visit:

Tuesday, October 18, 2011


Students are creating a painting based on Lancaster native Charles Demuth's painting Figure Five in Gold. Students used a math equation to come with a number for their painting. They also were given a choice of color schemes to use as well as painting their number in gold or silver.

 To learn more about Charles Demuth visit:


 Students are beginning the year learning about color and how to mix colors.

Students created a color wheel on their paper before they began painting

 They looked at a color wheel to help them label their paper before they began painting.

 Students learned that taking care of their brushes by cleaning them out well helped to mix the colors that they wanted. All colors on the color wheel were made with just the Primary Colors: red, yellow and blue!!

Through this lesson, students learned a lot about color and how to create the secondary colors as well as the intermediate colors, which are colors such as yellow-green, red-violet and blue-green.


 4th grade students learned about Radial Design and Symmetry as well as ROY G BIV during this lesson. ROY G BIV is the order of the colors of the rainbow. The rainbow helps students understand how light mixes to create all the colors.
 Students began the lesson by creating a triangle with their name in bubble or block letters. Then they folded a square piece of paper into 8 sections. The triangle was placed under the thin white paper and traced to create a radial design.

After the design was drawn the student colored in the letters of their name in the ROY G BIV color order.
The finished design was then framed on a color paper of their choice!


 3rd grade is learning about color and pattern! They learned that a Tint is any color plus white. Also, they were learning more about painting and how to correctly use and clean a paintbrush.
 Students began the project by making a circle design on their paper by tracing various lids. They were encouraged to overlap their circles and let some of them go off the page for a more pleasing composition.
 Next, students chose a tint and carefully painted in the background or negative space. They learned that the negative space is the area around the object or subject in a painting.

After the negative space was dry, students were able to begin mixing their own tints. They learned that you should always start with the lightest color first when mixing paint! They painted their circles or the positive space with the tints that they mixed on disposable palettes. 

 Students finished by adding patterns with crayons!