First Grade Still Life Paintings

First grade looked at work by artists like Vincent Van Gogh and Gustave Caillebotte to examine a style of painting called a still life. A still life is a work of art that shows common, everyday items such as flowers, fruit, glasses, and jewelry.
Students started by creating their table and background. We talked about creating texture by blending different colors with our brush strokes. We learned how to cut symmetrical shapes and used that technique to create our vases which we filled with painted flowers. To add a little
surprise to our still lifes we made some 3D flowers to spring off the page.
Throughout the project, each student was encouraged to choose their own colors and give their picture their own individual flair. Students used the classroom color wheels to help them pick colors that would contrast against each other or blend well together.

Creating Art with a Computer

Beverly Sills, a famous opera singer, once said, "Art is the signature of civilizations."

Just by looking at the artwork of a certain time period or place you can learn a lot about what is important to those people; their beliefs, their culture, the important events happening during that time, etc. You can also learn a little about the resources they had through the media with which they chose to make their art.

Some of the earliest examples of art that we can still look at today are the drawings done on cave walls such as in Lauscaux, France. These paintings often portray animals and hunting, both of which would have been very important to the survival of the people creating them.

Throughout history, as technology has changed and civilizations have changed, artists have continued to create art with the tools and materials available to them. One of the tools that has become popular in the art of today is the computer. There are many programs designed to create art on the computer. Some allow you to manipulate photography, others allow you to draw and paint, stamp, and design.

Using the classroom computers, students have had the opportunity to experiment with some of the free programs available on the internet for creating artwork using a computer. Here is some of what they have come up with.

Check out some of the links in the sidebar to the right to try creating your own computer art!