Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Kinders Do Self Portraits.

Ohhh yeah, we so went there.  Each and every year, I try and do a self portrait unit with each and every grade.  And each and every year, I am ever so curious (and just a little bit nervous) to see how they go with my Kinder kiddos.

To begin, we read Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss and my students were a little concerned about my well-being because it never fails, I ALWAYS tear up big time while reading this book.  Darn end-of-the-year emotions!

After the story (and wiping away my tears), I did a quick little demo of drawing my self portrait with only an oil pastel starting with a basic "U" shape for my head and going from there.  We talked about our eye colors, our hair colors and textures, and proportions of our facial features all while I did the drawing demo on our Smart Board.  I felt juuuust a little bit like Bob Ross as I talked while drawing, and found myself saying things like, "and let's add in a happy mouth."  Love that guy.

After the Kinder kids drew their own portraits in oil pastel, I demo-ed how to mix colors on our mixing papers to make my transparent skin color (seriously, I look like I belong in The Walking Dead) and then use the primary colors to add in a pop of other colors for our facial features, clothing, and backgrounds.

The next class, I plopped down some palettes of paint with varying skin tones, some white and black, and the primary colors.  I wanted to share just a few of my favorite portraits with you below.  Now, while I gave some of them silly titles, I want you to know that EVERY single little artist put their heart and soul into their paintings and I don't mean any disrespect.  Sometimes we art teachers just need to have a little fun, especially when we have an ENTIRE week added onto our school year. Grrrrr, Midwest weather!

 So without further ado, here are some select portraits below:

The "NO! My Hair is Orange" Portrait



Here's how the conversation went:
Me: "Ummm, what color is your hair sweetie?"
Kinder:  (without hesitation) "Orange, of course!"
Me:  "Are you sure?  It looks kind of like dark brown to me.  But maybe run into the bathroom quickly to check."
Kinder:  "No! My hair is orange."  (runs to the bathroom)

Five minutes later...
Me: "Did you check your hair?"
 Kinder:  "Nope, but I did use the toilet."


The "Most Beautiful Bambi Eyes" Portrait




The "Cosby Sweater" Portrait



The "If Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes Was a Real Kid" Portrait




The "Most Textured Hair" Portrait




The "Friendliest Kindergartener" Portrait




The "Dot-alicious" Portrait



The "Jackson Pollock" Portrait




The "Yeah, I'm Wearing a Mouth Guard" Portrait




The "Channeling My Inner Modigliani" Portrait




The "Primary Color Party" Portrait




The "I Just Might Be Part Gonzo" Portrait




Best of luck to you with your end of the school year.  And if you're already on break, enjoy a well-earned grown-up apple juice for me, you lucky teacher, you!

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