E3- Vases in Charcoal

The students in my drawing class are learning about value and shadows. I set up a super simple still life of a white vase with a lamp shining on it so students could see the range of values. I also showed them how to use the eraser to bring out the highlights. Lots of black fingers and charcoal-smeared cheeks later, they had lovely still life drawings.

First Grade: Sunflowers Inspired by Van Gogh

First graders learned about Post Impressionist Vincent van Gogh and drew sunflowers inspired by his painting, making sure to layer their oil pastels to get a thick, rich color that characterizes van Gogh's work. I set up vases with sunflowers at each table so students could have a real reference.

Kindergarten: Charcoal Still Life

Kindergarten: Paul Cezanne's Apples and Pears

In this lesson, I had students look at the fruits not as apples or pears, but as shapes. After all, isn't that how Cezanne himself saw his still lifes? "Reproduce nature in terms of the cylinder and the sphere and the cone". Students took a soft pastel and drew three irregular circles and a "flat" circle, or oval, for the plate underneath. Before they colored in their fruit, we looked at how Cezanne's brushstrokes were very visible and not blended in, so they used the flat side of the pastel to create geometric strokes. The last step was to outline their fruit with black pastel and add a shadow underneath their plate. I love how these turned out!