Here’s another short (photo) time lapse of a painting I did. I’ve been sick with a sore throat for about 4 days now. Not much of a holiday. Apologies to readers waiting patiently for IT related info. Something soon, I promise. (You must be tired of all this art stuff. Video link here.)
I was inspired by this video to try something new with my artwork (thanks Craig R for sharing it). Though it is good to develop personal style, I find myself doing the same thing over and over. With time on my hands I gave the technique a go a few days ago.
The premise is to be influenced through music to explore creativity. I chose “In Sickness and in Health” by The Legendary Pink Dots from their The Whispering Wall album. I had no plan in mind and simply went with it, playing the song over and over for about an hour until the work was complete. It’s harder than it sounds and I doubted myself throughout the whole experience.
My goal was to simply break out of my comfort zone and explore new possibilities and various techniques that I usually don’t use. I used graphite, pastel, ink, coffee, charcoal, gouache, watercolour and collage.
The final piece itself is not a work of art, but a document of an exploration process, something newer art students may struggle with. I recorded the process in the video below and sped it up reducing it from fifty minutes to approximately three (you may also click the photo to take you to the Flickr page).
We’re on holiday for our mid-semester break and I decided to stay put to get some art done. Well the break is halfway over and I finally managed to squeeze some time in. I thought I’d do a self-portrait with acrylic gouache as I teach this next semester and I am a little rusty. Four and a half hours later I managed to pump this out in A3 size. I also photographed the process to create the video below. Not my best work but it feels good to do some artwork again! (That’s the problem when you teach art, you don’t have time to do your own.)
(YouTube video link here)
Check out Rankin (photographer, publisher and film director who launched Dazed & Confused magazine) and the Destroy Rankin Project. It’s…
“To celebrate Youth Music’s 10th Birthday, 70 of the world’s greatest musicians and visual artists have created a groundbreaking body of collaborative artwork based on Rankin’s iconic portraits of musicians.
As part of National Youth Music Week 2009, Youth Music will take over Phillips De Pury London for a festival of art and live music featuring performances from Destroy artists.
Original works by Damien Hirst, Douglas Gordon, Debbie Harry, Michael Stipe, U2, Mat Collishaw, Marianne Faithfull and many others will be auctioned to support the UK’s biggest music charity for young people.”
View the Gallery to see the original Rankin photo and how it was ‘destroyed’ by another artist. I think students would enjoy a project like this by using celebrity photos from magazines or even taking and using photos of themselves, which a partner could then reinterpret. I may consider this when I do portrait painting with grade 6 students next semester.
This whole Rankin approach sounds similar to a portrait party.
I have seen variations of this Australian aboriginal art activity in the past, but what I like about my co-workers’ delivery is the crumpled paper effect. Sonya and Gillian did this as an after school activity with grade 1-4 students. They write:
“Students were inspired by an aboriginal painting to create their own ‘rock drawings’ in the style of the Australian aboriginal people. After drawing their animal in permanent marker, they used watercolour dyes in earth tones to colour the paper. When it was dry, the paper was scrunched into a ball to create the rock texture. Further detail was added with cotton buds and paint – the dot painting being very prominent in aboriginal art. A border was created for the work and students helped prepare their work for display.”
10 Killer Content Sources for Your iPod Learning Mix (via Mission To Learn)
Improve Your Browsing Sessions with SuggestRSS (via WebAppStorm)
More Challenges with Wikis: 4 ways to move students from passive to active (via The Journal)
Have a look at Matthew Needleman’s Video In The Classroom (Digital Storytelling in the Elementary Grades and Beyond) site to view student films, film techniques, tutorials, tips and rubrics.
A Missing Piece in the Economic Stimulus: Hobbling Arts Hobbles Innovation - an excellent article on why art education matters and how it leads to innovations in other areas. (from Psychology Today via Journeys in Art)
The 3 Best Sites To Read Manga Online (via Daniel Pink on Twitter)
From TED:
Beau Lotto’s color games puzzle your vision, but they also spotlight what you can’t normally see: how your brain works. This fun, first-hand look at your own versatile sense of sight reveals how evolution tints your perception of what’s really out there.
I’ve been seeing a lot of good photo related stuff on the blogs that I subscribe to and they reminded me of this one, which I keep forgetting to post. Why not David Hockney yourself with Hockneyizer? It’s free.
Photojojo has Refractographs: How to Take Photos of Light Reflections. It looks simple enough and I may give it a try towards the end of the school year when both myself and my students have some extra time. It may be an easy way to introduce abstract art and finally, do some photography. It also looks easy enough for elementary children.
My first round of grade 6 students (11 years old) have just completed their self-portraits unit. Feel free to view the simple five week unit here. To introduce the unit, blind portrait drawings were done, which I blogged about before here. Students then used mirrors to draw their portraits without instruction (70 minutes). These pre-assessment drawings are included in the video, followed by their final piece. Some students made remarkable improvements.
I tried a different approach that was inspired from Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Photos were taken and cross hairs applied. Students then drew these cross hairs onto their A3 sheets and a middle tone was then added over their paper. 2B~6B pencils were used to add further value and tone, and erasers for highlighted areas. If you teach portrait drawing, I have other ideas and resources on my wiki as well. I may consider a portrait party for a future group. Enjoy!
