Back to Work

It was a difficult day for everyone to get back into the swing of things. I saw a lot of tired faces in class. It is always a bit difficult to get back to work after a long break. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and actually did take some time to be thankful for the many privileges and luxuries that we experience daily. I urged the students to get going on their scratchboard drawings if they hadn't started. Several students are finishing them already and those students will have a big gap between projects. I will assign another homework drawing next week. Those who are done can work on that in class.

intaglio - a design inciseed or engraved into a material.

A Little Behind

Today I am writing about class last Thursday and Friday. I apologize for getting behind. Mid quarter grades were due Friday and I wanted to get all the paper bag drawings graded and included on the progress reports. Almost everyone finished the bag drawings. I gave a couple students partial grades because they intend to work on them a little more.

I have a couple students finished with the scratchboard drawings and some that haven't even started. Some students are creating their initial drawings by copying a photograph. A few are using a grid to help them draw their picture in proportion. Those who are finished can create another one or work on art contest entries. I believe the charm that displays Lauren's design is now available at Steffan's Jewelers in McHenry. Profits from the charms will go toward the Pioneer Center. If you need a special gift for someone this Christmas, this may be just right.

Thursday, November 19th's Word of the Day

judge - to view a piece of artwork and form an opinion or conclusion about it. One of the parts of an art critique.

Friday, Novemeber 20th's Word of the Day

petroglyph - prehistoric rock carving

Vocabulary Quiz Today

Today the students took their vocabulary quiz if they didn't take it online yesterday. For some the quizlet helped immensely. For those who decided not to take it seriously, they didn't do so well. I may have a couple of students retake the quiz online to see if they do any better. After the quiz students worked on their scratchboard drawings. A couple of students are still finishing up their bag drawings.

interpret - to present or conceptualize the meaning of a piece of artwork.

Teachers make mistakes too

Last night I worked diligently preparing the vocabulary quizes for three of my classes. Drawing I was the only class that was going to take the quiz today, but I was working ahead. When I went to make copies of the quizes this morning, I realized I forgot to put them in my school bag. I'm sure that has never happened to any of you! Zero for the teacher today. While I knew most of the class would be relieved not to take the quiz, sometimes you get a student who has studied and studied and is very anxious to spill out the new knowledge he or she has acquired. I was concerned for that type of student. Thanks to this new website I discovered, I allowed those students to take the quiz online today. We could have all done that, but I didn't sign up for the computer lab and I have only one computer in our room. Everything worked out fine, but I admit it--I make mistakes too. I am thankful for forgiveness!

art critique - the process and results of critical thinking about art. The parts are: describe, analyze, interpret, judge.

Check out quizlet

Today the students spent half of the class period studying 16 vocabulary words for our quiz tomorrow. I introduced them to a flashcard site on the Internet called quizlet.com. At this site if the student searches for artvocab and then clicks on user artvocab they will find the needed flash cards. With this tool, if it is used, we ought to have a lot of improved quiz scores.

analyze - in visual art, examining the unique features of a work as they relate to the elements and principles of art.

Snow Wolf

Once again, Robert was the first one to finish his scratchboard drawing. He decided his end drawing looks like a snow wolf. I would have to agree. He may do a second drawing considering a few of the students are still finishing up the paper bag drawings and haven't even begun the scratchboard drawing. Those who have started the scratchboard are doing wonderfully. While I am sure it is stressful for those who are lagging behind, their previous drawings are amazing and are worth the extra time they are investing in them. I absolutely LOVE these Drawing I classes!

John Schoenherr - American illustrator, famous for science fiction illustration, wildlife art, children's book illustrations and scratchboard art.

Congratulations Lauren!

We received great news on Thursday! Lauren won the Steffan's Jeweler's "Design a Charm" contest. Her design will be made into a charm and sold to raise money for the Pioneer Center. Congratulations Lauren! She will receive one of the charms and hers will actually have a diamond on it.

stylus - a sharp pointed instrument used for writing, marking or engraving.

Final scratchboard drawings begin

Some of the students started working on their actual scratchboard drawings. I have an amazing group of students! It will be fun watching their work progress. Today was activity day, so the students in 1st hour drawing had some extra time to work on their drawings if they chose to do so.

nib-the pointed end of a pen or tool.

Hand compositions in sketchbooks are graded

Sketchbooks were graded and returned to the students today. We worked on the scratchboard drawings and I passed out a handout on working with scratchboard. Hopefully it gave the students some helpful tips.

India ink - a simple black ink once widely used for writing and printing and now more commonly used for drawing.

Practice first!

Today several students began to practice using the scratch knives on the scratchboard. It isn't as easy as it seems. The students need to get a feel for the amount of pressure that must be applied to the knife. Too much and the white paper will get scratched up and not enough pressure ends up leaving no mark at all. I strongly recommend the students practice first and test each tool prior to using it on their final piece of artwork.

scratch knife - tool used to create scratch marks on a scratchboard.

Can you say scratchboard?

Wow, I feel like my tongue is getting twisted on this project. I have said sketchboard instead of scratchboard more times than I can count. Perhaps it is because I am always referring to the sketchbooks. I don't know, but I hope I am not confusing the students too much. Prior to beginning the drawings I showed the students how they can make a view finder out of paper to help them compose their drawing. I am impressed with the initial drawings the students began on Friday. I really am looking forward to the final results.

view finder - optical device that helps a user to find the target of interest and set up a composition.

A trip to the computer lab

Today we went to the computer lab to check out some of the cool scratchboard drawings that are exhibited online. The students seemed amazed by the drawings that can be done on scratchboard. After that they decided whether to do a closeup of part of an animal or a view of the whole animal, and did some exploring of animal photographs on the Internet. Most everyone left class with a good idea of what they wanted to draw.

etch - to cut or carve on a surface.

What animal would you like to draw?

If we are going to be scientific, I should rather say, what creature would you like to draw? Our next project will be drawn on scratchboard and I don't want it to be a human, but it may be an insect. Most animals will be acceptable. Tomorrow we will be going to the computer lab to find some pictures of the animals we want to draw and to view the scratchboard drawings of other artists. I collected the hand assignment today, but have not graded them yet.

scratchboard - black coated white paper that is used along with a technique where drawings are created using sharp tools for etching into the black surface to reveal the white paper below.

Hand compositions due tomorrow

Yesterday, I put up some more of the skeleton drawings. I continue to get compliments from the teachers. I do believe the students did an exceptional job on this assignment. Tomorrow the hand compositions will be due. We will continue to work on shading so the students can learn how to make objects look more three dimensional. For our next project I would like the students to think of an animal that they really like. We will eventually be doing a scratchboard drawing of this animal. We will be doing some preliminary drawings so that the students' compositions are exactly how they want them prior to working on the scratchboard.

newsprint - this paper comes in large sheets and is inexpensive. It will eventually yellow, and is not a good choice for preserving artwork. Pen and marker will bleed through this paper.

Implied Lines

Every day for the entire school year, I have been giving the students a word of the day. Imagine that I might be doing this for a purpose. Pretend they are not just a bunch of made up words that will never be used in class or encountered in future drawing classes. I really am doing this so my students will expand their vocabulary and be able to understand what we are talking about in class. One of our vocabulary words was implied line. On Friday when Mrs. Kammer asked the students to complete a drawing that included only implied lines, many were very confused. Thanks to a few students who retained the information they were required to learn, the rest of the class was no longer in the dark. Today students continued working on their hand compositions and the paper bag drawings.

art gum - a popular eraser among artists that is made of soft, coarse rubber. It is well suited for removing large areas and does not damage the paper. They tend to crumble as they are used, leaving behind residue that should be removed with a brush. These erasers are not very precise. They are commonly tan or brown.

Your Hand is the Model

During Friday's class, Mrs. Kammer introduced a sketchbook drawing for the students to complete. The student's opposite drawing hand was to pose three times and each pose was to be drawn on the same sheet of paper. The completed drawing should result in an interesting composition with implied lines only. I was chaperoning 23 of JHS's students who were attending the Fox Valley Leadership Conference at McHenry County College. I am sorry I was absent...again. Mrs Kammer had nothing but good things to say about the classes and I appreciate that so much!

linear perspective - a method of portraying objects on a flat surface so that the dimensions shrink with distance. One and two perspective drawings exhibit linear perspective.