Week in Review: October 15-19

6th Grade 
This week, we worked really hard on our paper mache letterform sculptures!  Everyone finished the paper mache coating, and after it dried, we added texture to the front face of the letter with puffy paint and/or Elmer's glue.

On Thursday and Friday, we began working on drawing techniques using shading and value.  These skills will be used for our pen & ink drawing later on in the 6-week term.

7th Grade 
Most of our week was spent painting our still life compositions.  On Monday, we started painting value scales for practice before beginning our final painting.  Students chose one color (red, orange, green, blue, or violet) to mix with white or black to create lighter and darker values.  These are called "tints" or "shades."

These value scales help us decide what areas of our painting should be painted in what values.  So far they're looking pretty good!  Next week we'll begin adding shadows and highlights to our still life objects, and maybe even finish by the end of next week!

On Friday, we began sketchbook assignment #2, which is all about Op Art designs and high contrast black and white imagery.  This will be due next Wednesday (10/24).

8th Grade 
This was our last week of the quarter!  Boo hoo!  We spent the week finishing up just about everything!  First, our star lanterns were completed, photographed, and graded.  Then, Ms. Best talked with 8th grade students about art at York High School and showed off some of the awesome artwork she's made while at York.  We ended the quarter with one last quick drawing where we illustrated our greatest fears.

During the week, I was able to hang our plaster sculptures in the library!  Our maintenance staff installed screws in the library above the bookcases, and Mrs. Fullerton (our librarian) was kind enough to let us display our work in her space.  It looks FANTASTIC!  Check it out!

On our last day of art (as promised), we enjoyed using our glazed clay mugs by drinking hot chocolate, tea, and/or lemonade.  Some students used the time to draw, while others enjoyed watching the classic Simpsons episode where Homer becomes an "artist." Hilarious!



In other news...
A 4 million dollar Roy Lichtenstein painting has turned up after being missing for 42 years! Whoa!  Read all about it here.



Thanks for another great week!
-Mrs. L.