Views of San Francisco

Golden Gate Bridge with a Crocodile in the Water by Mollie

This week we've been studying San Francisco. We'll continue at least through next week and well beyond, judging by the enthusiasm of our class. Recently we were invited to submit artwork for a "Children's View of San Francisco" exhibit. Watch upcoming blog posts for details.

The Ocean Hills and That's The Fog Going Over It by Alexander

We began the week by surveying what our classmates know about the city and what they love the most. The students have been drawing their own interpretations of bridges, most notably the Golden Gate. After the bridge, the most notable icons are the SF Zoo and Cable Cars.



All our pieces will be mixed media, collaborative collages, combining elements created by and arranged at least 4-6 students. Our students are VERY intent on sharpening their cutting skills. (pun totally intended) We have had an explosion in figurative drawing, and almost every figure, animal, design and scribble gets cut out by someone shortly after it is created. Combining all these individual gems is a fantastic way to create something together without diluting the purity of each little creation. We can't wait to see how they turn out!

TODAY'S ACTIVITY
Crayon Resist Watercolors. Draw with crayons. Paint watercolor over it. Marvel at the high contrast, 'glowing' colors that emerge.

I began with a demonstration comparing crayons to markers with this process. The class liked how the crayon stripes on the tiger 'popped' when the orange was applied. They seemed equally disappointed when the marker leopard turned a dingy green when yellow was applied. Rather than present it as a right way/wrong way, I always use our scientific discovery language of, "What do you think will happen?" "What happened?" "Why did it do that?"

We began by drawing animals and people we love to see at the zoo with crayons. The students loved seeing their drawings in a new way, clear, with broad strokes of color.

Oops! Due to technical difficulties uploading photos at present, I have to continue with tomorrow's post. No worries, I keep good notes and I'll be backtracking to fill in some of the missing items as the program allows.