Hubble Space Telescope Chalk Pastels

Hello again from Mr. Reardon’s class! This month, we learned about the Hubble Space Telescope and interpretted its images using chalk pastels. It was awesome.

We started out by talking about the Hubble Space Telescope. The telescope does not merely see the visible spectrum far beyond what humans can see, but it can also see the near ultraviolet and near infrared spectra. So the colors and formations captured by the telescope are infinitely diverse and colorful. I brought some print outs of the photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. We talked about the vastness of space, the shapes of galaxies, that nebulas are made of gas (giggle), and that those tiny white spots in the photos are stars, just like our sun. The images are so amazing, and they were to be our inspiration for making art!

Well, the perfect medium for interpretting these incredible photos would be chalk pastels. Chalk pastels can be transparent or opaque. Depending on how we use the pastels, the color they may be hard and intense, or they can be soft and subtle. And, we get to use the pastels on black paper, which is the perfect canvas to emulate deep space.

I showed a few techniques for using the pastels. Like, drawing a dotted line to lightly sketch the composition. Or using the torn edge of a paper as a mask to create a hard edge. I also demonstrated that when we smudge the color, it softens its appearance. When we leave the color pure and untouched, it is more opaque and sharp. I encouraged them to not cover the entire sheet of paper with color; the black paper will help us represent the vastness of space.

Finally, we discussed that chalk pastels are messy, and that's why we covered their desks with paper. Mr. Reardon asked them to please roll up their sleeves.

Then we got to it...

It was a deep space free for all. I encouraged them to experiment with opacity and blending colors. Try to remember that there is energy and gravity in these space formations, so there should be spots of intesity in their compositions.

Many students completed more than one drawing. It was a good time.

I sprayed the pictures with clear coat fixative to help prevent smearing. I'm actually not sure if that was a good idea, because now they stink! Hopefully, they'll air out soon and we'll be able to hang them in the hall this week.

You can really see the inspiration in their interpretations.

Pop Art Grumpy Cats

I had the pleasure of leading Mr. Reardon's 4th grade class in a lesson about pop art. First, I explained how pop art is a movement that surfaced in 1950's, and challenges traditional art by using imagery from popular culture, such as subject matter used in advertising and the news. Also, pop art usually has a visual "pop" by using bright, vibrant colors with simplified, iconic forms and plenty of contrast. I had print outs of examples of pop art for each table of students to reference.

For our subject matter, we used Grumpy Cat. How fun is that? Many of the students weren't familiar with Grumpy cat, so I was lucky enough to show them examples of Grumpy Cat memes. The students were very excited!  

To begin, I asked them to put their names on the back of their watercolor paper. Then, I lead them through a step-by-step process on how to draw Grumpy Cat that I found here. I drew Grumpy Cat on the white board, and the students drew him using pencil.

Then the students traced their cats using a thick, black Sharpie, and colored the pupils of the eyes black. I provided the students with a limited color palette of tempera paints. Each table of students got to work with 4 different bright colors, and I encouraged them to consider the white of the paper a color, too. I instructed them to choose their colors wisely, and not to let any of their colors touch each other, so the shapes that made up their Grumpy Cats wouldn't blend together. When they were finished, we let the paintings dry on the drying rack.

Because the paint covered up the Sharpie lines, I asked Mr. Reardon to let them retrace their Sharpie lines when they were dry. This gave the finishing contrast that was necessary to pop!

We hung the finished pieces in the hallway by the Staff Lounge. They look great! Like Andy Warhol's Marilyns, only much grumpier!  Hope you have a chance to see our Grumpy Cats while they're on dislplay this month.