Vancouver Cityscapes

My Grade One class created these beautiful cityscape collages of Vancouver, BC.  We were inspired by a local artist named Nicholas Brancati.  He is an illustrator who creates mixed-media collage illustrations and art using bits and pieces of fabric, paper, packaging, magazine, newspaper, cardboard and various other materials.  You cans find more of his amazing work on his Etsy Shop page.

I used one of the prints I purchased from him at the Vancouver Make It Market last year for our inspiration.  My students all immediately recognized our famous Vancouver landmark, Science World, and were eager to create their own versions. Unfortunately I no longer see this particular print on his website.  But here are a few close-ups of what we were able to create.:

Our evening art contains buildings created in cool colored construction paper.  However, this would be just as effective in bright primary and secondary colors as well. 

Grade One Farm Landscapes

We have been learning about nutrition and where food comes from in our class.  I was inspired by folk art landscapes and the post from Painted Paper in creating this lesson.

Day One:  The students drew their horizon.  We added the barn, tree shapes and some students added a fence.   They were then instructed to draw at least 5 vertical lines, dividing their landscapes.  Next they drew a horizontal line in each section at varying heights, dividing each strip into two.  Finally we used blue tempera blocks to paint the sky.

Day Two: The students again used tempera block paints to paint the different sections of their landscape as well as the tops of the trees.

Day Three:  The students used markers to colour and outline their barns.  They used oil pastels to add patterns to their land sections, fences, and for the tree stumps and branches.

I love how bright and colourful they turned out!  The kids are so proud of them!