Fantastic Faces

If you were to ask my students if they feel like they have been staring at and drawing their face for forever, they might say, "Yes!"

But the truth is, it's only been 6 class periods and some are already starting to practice their monochromatic color scheme painting.

Their 18 x 24 inch self portraits are on their way to becoming Monochromatic Tempera Batik paintings. Click here to see more portraits in progress!

Infusion of Color

This week, the students also used apples as the subject matter for these colored pencil studies. From top to bottom: Tara M (11), Olivia D (11), Joey K (12) and Patti A (11).

Fruit Still Life Drawings

Our drawings came together and took about 5 days to complete from sketching to shading. We knew from the start that the fruit wouldn't last forever, so the students took a picture of their composition with their phone or ipad - and used it like a digital cropping tool. (I consider this acceptable use of technology, even though students are technically required to have their phones off and away.) After the fruit got moldy and was taken home to my compost pile, the students drew from their pictures as reference. Visit kiickstart.com to see more student drawings.

The drawing above was created by Caitlynne C. She is a junior and a second year art student.

The Art, Miracle and Science of Drawing Fruit

Two days into our fruit still-life drawing lesson, I honestly thought we experienced a lemon juice miracle! (pictured above) However, four days later, it was quite clear that our lemon juice miracle was just science delayed. Our fruit became brown and slimy bringing with it a friendly infestation of fruit flies. (pictured below) Despite the less than perfect classroom conditions, we carried on and did our new pencils & papers proud!

Our once succulent fruit has now returned to the good earth in my compost pile! Ah, the circle of life. Fruit flies and all, it was worth it! The assignment generated a positive experience for the students, and while they might be a tad more self-critical than I am as their teacher, I’m pleased with their efforts and results. No one can learn how to do something, or how to get better at doing something…without actually doing it! Funny how that education thing works.

Of course, we aren’t the only artists who have drawn rotting fruit. Consider Caravaggio, the Italian Baroque Master (1571-1610) who painted “Basket of Fruit” in 1599.

Or in more contemporary times: here’s a video time lapse of strawberries rotting in reverse. (wild)

Images of my students’ drawings – coming soon!