Fabulous Fourth Graders~ Byzantine Architecture

Our fabulous fourth graders have been traveling back to 330AD to the beginning of the Byzantine Empire! Architecture during that time period was unique because of arches and domes. Did you know there are 8 different types of arches? No, we're not talkin' about those "golden arches" :) Your fourth grader might remember the "ogee" arch. That one was popular just due to the name.

We spent a whole class period just practicing domes and arches. Then, we became Byzantine architects and designed and drew our own structure. Eventually color will be added with oil pastels and the backgrounds will be painted in watercolor. We can't wait to show you! Check back soon. In the meantime, enjoy these actual Byzantine architecture examples. I was impressed that a good many fourth graders either knew the name of these, where they were,or both!! Do you know???

 

Krazy Kinders~ Story Illustration "One Fine Day"

 We are pretending to be story illustrators! We are drawing an illustration to go along with the Caldecott Medal winning book "One Fine Day" by Nonny Hogrogian.

 

 

The story is a retelling of an Armenian folktale about a fox who steels milk from a farm woman's bucket. Angry, she cuts off his tail and with lots of effort -and the kindness of others- he finally gets it back.

 The children only looked at the illustration above and did not hear the story until after their drawings were complete. They were to decide for themselves what the fox may have done to make the farm woman so angry that she would cut off his tail!

How cute are those busy little kindergarten hands?

Thrilling Third Graders~ Abstract Paper Towel Print

Third grade was due to paint, and I mean due. We had drawn, we had "collaged" and then we'd drawn some more. So it was time.

And paint, we did.

First, we painted paper towels. Go here to see how!

Then, we cut'em apart and chose just the right background paper to make the color pop!

Next, we glued them in an interesting way. Some were very particular and spent several minutes turning and overlapping. By the way, I was going to crop this photo a little more but decided the jersey had to stay.
Just look at those colors; paper towels never looked so awesome.
This one wanted the camo look when he chose his colors. Turned out perfect!
They wanted paint.....they got it.
Paint with foam rollers, rubber rollers and toothbrushes.
All colors offered, even the coveted expensive metallics.

(Mrs.Cline is stingy with those)
The results?
BREATHTAKING!
Here are the close ups..
And the best part? Those waiting to paint, got to draw some more.

We tried to keep it abstract to go along with the paintings. These kids amaze me I tell ya, they deliver every time.

Spectacular Second Grader~ There's a hole in my project!

Second graders got a thrill out of using the hole punch, can ya tell? We started out with the concept of doing a collage that was in the abstract style..

then we cut, and then we punched.....

.....and then we cut and punched a little more......

.....and then we glued.

They think they turned out pretty good. I think they turned out fabulous!

Another Amazing Artist~ Feather Paintings

After sorting through hundreds of permission slips, I'm just about ready to begin posting student photos and art! Out of 635 kids here at Eagle View I had over 90% respond- Way to go parents! Spring Break will allow lots of time for me to upload. In the mean time, check out this amazing artist!

Julie Thompson currently lives in Washington state but grew up in Alaska.

About 20 years ago she began painting feathers with acrylic inspired by the wildlife and scenery she experienced. She says it is a painstaking process and can take up to one week to paint one feather!

She is known as the "Featherlady"!

Click here to see more feathers and check out her website!

Amazing Camouflage Artists!

These two artists attempt the almost impossible- a visual deception created through camouflage painting techniques. There is no trick photography or photo shopping used to create these illusions- just the artist, paint and a lot of patience!

The first is 35 year old Liu Bolin, a graduate of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in China. He most often goes by the name- "The Invisible Man".

He's the guy in white, by the way.

It took me a bit longer to find him in the one below here.....wow.

The next artist is Desiree Palmen, a 44 year old Dutch artist. This first one is titled "Desk Deception"
This is "Blending Library".......

...and last, "Flight of Fancy" and "Alley Illusion"