Editor's note

Arts & Activities, April, 2005 by Maryellen Bridge

There are different ways to motivate students to paint with style and flair, and in this issue we have some winning projects that will do just that! High-school artists will be challenged by the lesson described in our Cover Story, "In The Manner of ..." (page 18). Teenagers research artists and then choose whose technique or style they would like to emulate in a self-portrait carefully executed in oil paint.

Intermediate-level students will enjoy "Template Magic" (page 22). The learning here includes establishing a relationship between foreground and background, blending watercolors and creating contrast through the manipulation of hue, shade and intensity. The mouth-watering paintings that result will please the young artists in your class.

"Leaping Lizards" (page 33) is a fun mixed-media project that highlights wet-in-wet watercolor technique. With a basket full of rubber lizards as models, elementary students create reptiles lurking in foliage, showing off what they have learned about the art terms "muted" and "contrast."

A couple more lessons will appeal to high-school students ... "Great Portraits Out of the Blue" (page 34) is a multi-media project that involves digital photographs, laser printouts, tempera paint, charcoal pencils and watercolors. This project really gets students "out of the box" that they might be in. And, "Let's Have a Paint-Along!" (page 36) is a simple and successful way to support and guide students through a watercolor-painting experience.

Masking tape and watercolor are the tools involved in "Exploring Movement and Rhythm with Hard-Edge Painting" (page 40;. Various painting techniques are utilized in these compositions that show how rhythm and movement can guide the viewer's eye through a painting.

We have a couple of stories this month that fall under the category of "Integrating the Curriculum." The first, "Painting Watercolor Fractions" (page 20), teaches elementary kids about warm and cool colors as well as how to divide a rectangle into fractions. "Hawksbill Sea Turtle Endangered Animals Unit" (page 38), ties in with science class as children learn about some of the world's creatures whose existence is threatened.

Now comes the hard part of this month's maga zine: deciding which art project to share with your students. No matter which one you choose, your young artists will soon be painting with style and flair!