 A mosaic is art that is made up of many small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials such as paper or ceramics. During Medieval times in the Byzantine Empire, mosaics were a popular art form. Mosaics made of stone, glass, pearls and gold commonly decorated the interiors of churches all over the empire. Early mosaics were made out of available materials, like pebbles and shells. As technology evolved, artists were able to cut squares of glass and marble because of the hammering and chiseling tools that allowed them to cut materials into small squares. My older kids adapted this concept using a painting technique that is done to look like a mosaic. They drew from an image of a popular Byzantine Mosaic and painted using some bright and attractive colours! The end result is quite striking!
0 Comments
 The Hall of the Bulls is a large hall inside Lascaux Cave. Massive drawings of bulls, some 18 feet long, stampede along the walls. ABOUT LASCAUX CAVE In 1940 a cave was discovered by teenage boys in southwest France. When they entered the cave, they were surrounded by paintings on the walls and ceilings. The paintings are estimated to be 17,000 years old. Most of these prehistoric paintings are of large animals, such as horses, cattle and bison, and were painted with black, red and yellow mineral pigments. The Stone Age people were able to see in the cave with the use of lamps made out of stone. Over 100 prehistoric lamps have been found in Lascaux Cave. We recreated the look of these stone walls by creating texture and using tones that may have been found on its surface. This week the Warhols practiced drawing from observation. They looked at proportion and scale as well as how to use their lines to effectively portray the subject matter. We painted using watercolours for additional practice manipulating this medium to achieve depth while still also giving a feeling of lightness and fluidity. To commemorate Indian Arrival Day this year my Warhols are taking a look at the living conditions of those who came to work the sugarcane fields. They are supposed to gather a bit of info on this topic but I furnished them with a few pics so they could get a visual on where the inspiration for our piece was derived. They are using on acrylics on paper. Take a look at our process and how they’ve turned out.  This term all my classes are starting off looking at Things that Go! So I thought it would be cool to give this group a bit of a history lesson and let them see what the first air craft looked like! I love the story of the Wright brothers and how their curiosity, grit and experimenting led them to fly the very first airplane in 1903. The world would never be the same! This lesson features a beautiful watercolor scene and delicate line drawing of the Wright brothers 1903 “Flyer.” The use of loose watercolor techniques captures the windy day of the first flight over the sandy dunes near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Salt added to the wet watercolor “sand” gives a sandy texture to the watercolor piece. ABOUT THE WRIGHT BROTHERS Orville and Wilber Wright are the inventors and pilots of the world’s first successful airplane, built and flown in 1903. As young men, the brothers operated a printing press business and then a bicycle repair shop. Their knowledge of bicycles became a foundation for their experiments in designing a powered aircraft. My Warhols spent our last few classes working on an acrylic piece in canvas board. The process of drawing and paying attention to detail and then of course adding colour and texture was enjoyable from start to finish. They took their time and it shows! Well for our final Carnival piece for the term we turned our attention to the big stage! The Warhols looked at how light influenced how a subject is perceived. They composed their piece and executed it moving from back to front and layering different elements to create a finished product that they were all proud of in the end! Have a great Carnival! The Warhols got into the spirit of Carnival in our last class... translating the movement and rythmn of the pan into a charcoal piece! This is the first time they have used charcoal in class and I think the results are really good. Of course Aunty Ariel (who sidenote plays pan for Skiffel Bunch and placed third in Semis) was only too happy to help them get the gestural movements of the pannist!  HISTORY Chacachacare Island received its name by the Amerindians who populated the area. In 1498 Christopher Columbus named it El Caracol (the Snail). Presently it is part of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and it lies in the Bocas del Dragon (Dragon’s Mouth), only seven miles from the coast of Venezuela. It encompasses approximately 900 acres. Between the period of 1777 and 1794, Spaniards established cotton plantations on the island, as well as whaling stations. By 1797, Chacachacare came under the control of the British. During the French revolution émigrés or Creoles from Santo Domingo and the surrounding islands settled here. Coconut, cocoa and sugar were also grown, with the biggest sugar mills in the British Empire being located on the island. The last remaining structure on the island is the ruins of the house pictured above and it has a varied and very interesting past! The Warhols heard about its history as a whaling station and even a hospital for POS's growing leper colony!  I came across this lovely painting by a little known artist and I just loved the viewpoint. Every Trini can tell exactly the spot this painting is done from. This is what good art does, it connects the viewer to a time or place and evokes feeling. The Warhols painted a different view of the savannah but the inspiration piece gave us a good starting point. They are also using acrylics with this piece so they get to use a different texture paint and see how that affects their painting. Of course we also get to immerse ourselves in the wonderful feeling of painting nature. Take a look as they each try to bring the Savannah to our studio! |
Welcome!
Be a fly on the wall in our art room! Take a look at what we do, how we do it and the smiles that I get to see week after week :) Archives
February 2020
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
