Still Lifes!

My second grade classes and Mr. Angelo's class just mastered still lifes!

After looking at the work of Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Cezanne, students learned all about still lifes and drawing from observation. We discussed scale, composition and realism and students challenged themselves to really study what they were drawing. We talked about oil pastel technique and blending colors to achieve realism. Students experiment with pushing harder with oil pastel, layering color and adding shadows and highlights. We learned that laying out our compositions in white eliminated the need to erase and allowed us to plan and adjust our drawings before adding color. We also learned to really LOOK at what we are drawing and discovered that shadows usually aren't black, simple things have a range of colors and highlights add dimension to our work.

After all this observing and studying we did a 180 and students were given the freedom to add a realistic OR imaginary background using the techniques we learned in class. I was so inspired to see still lifes in a starry sky, lit up by firework displays and in tropical rainforests.

Drawing from life is a challenge and it took courage and patience to complete these beautiful drawings, I am so proud of you guys!