Paul Klee Art Lesson

This art project is based on one of Paul Klee's most recognized paintings called Cat and Bird-

This is an easy cat a bird to model drawing for all ages.  We practiced drawing the picture on a scratch paper first then did our final drawing in pencil on watercolor paper. We went over the pencil lines with oil pastels-I let them choose which colors they wanted to use-but told them to use a variety of colors. Then we filled in the rest of the picture using chalk pastels similar to the colors Klee used in his work. This worked well for kids k-6th. Below are some of the finished pieces. I think they have the same soft feel of Klee's work.

Charlie Russell Illustrated Letters

This is the third project I did with my 3rd-6th grade class on Charlie Russell. After watching some youtube videos on Charlie Russell and talking about his life and art, I had the kids illustrate a letter  telling someone about him,(like he often did when corresponding with friends), using soft watercolors and western images. They turned out great and the kids really enjoyed this lesson. They decorated the envelopes as well with colored pencils and we mailed them for the final step.

First they did a rough draft on a scratch piece of paper, and then did a final draft on a  piece of watercolor paper cut down to a letter size. The drew in some guidelines in pencil to help keep their writing straight. We used a extra fine line Sharpie for outlining the pictures and the writing.

Below are some of the finished projects.

Charlie Russell Painting Lesson

This is another Charlie Russell project I just finished with my 3-6 grade class. These kids really enjoyed learning more about this artist. I showed a couple of youtube videos on him and several of his prints. Like I said in my earlier post on Russell, the kids in this small Montana school can really appreciate his art and love looking at the history of their state that he so masterfully portrayed in his pictures.

For this lesson we took one of his paintings called "Just a Little Sunshine" (see below), and I had the students copy the cowboy and horse, while creating their own background. We worked on using a soft touch with the watercolors to try and give the same feel that Charlie Russell had in his work.

I chose this particular painting because I thought it would be an easier picture to copy than most of his paintings which have alot of action in them. I think the kids had alot of success with this project, and they were very proud of their work.