Giraffes and Owls

We have so much fun with our directed draws. All the students know the directions and procedures when we complete a directed draw.

1.  Get your paper
2. Get a marker
3. Write your name and flip the paper over
4. Draw when Mrs. Farkas lifts her marker
5. If you make a mistake, make it work
6. No talking

We have had a lot of successful artists this year and their art confidence has increased a ton due to "making it work". In previous years, my students would tend to get stuck on perfection. When using a permanent marker, we avoid perfection because we can't erase. We have fun together because I even make mistakes and let the kids know I need to make it work.

However, we broke all the rules when drawing the owl. This year, the owl was completely new to me and since I usually am able to find an idea on the internet and draw from that, I don't have typical directions to follow. So, when drawing the owl, I had many mistakes and just thought I could make it work. But as we finished the owls, we realized what a disaster they were and we all wanted a redo.

Once we discussed what we needed to do differently, we found a new piece of paper and began again. We learned again what making mistakes and learning from them can do for us. Round 2 was AMAZING!

 

We also FINALLY completed my favorite animal! The kids have been begging to complete giraffes. We used a wax resist technique with our giraffes and patterns. We added patterns to the background and the giraffes spots. Then we used watercolor to finish up.