To create these magic trees we paint a chromatic shade with tempera colors on a drawing sheet. First we start the shade with yellow: we add a little amount of red into the yellow paint and proceed painting the orange tint until we reach the pure red. After that we add a little amount of blue into the red paint and proceed painting the purple tint. In order to obtain this chromatic shade we need to … [Read more...]
Still life on tonal gradations
March 19, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Here we have a mixed media work that involves many skills and subjects. First off all we learn how to paint a tonal gradation with acrylic or tempera painting, in order to create a background for this still life. You draw 12 stripes on a drawing sheet (2 centimeter each). Every line should be painted with a darker tone of the gradation, starting from the lighter one. On the palette you prepare … [Read more...]
Double figures created with silhouettes
February 15, 2017 by 1 Comment
After reasoning about positive and negative space in the 7th grade classes, we designed a double figure, working on the relationship between couple of silhouettes. We observed the amazing images of Noma Bar, the great contemporary graphic designer, who creates figurative plays between the figure and its background. The task was to create a picture with two silhouettes logically … [Read more...]
Asterisk* with three ways to shade
February 9, 2017 by Leave a Comment
As in this previous lesson, we practiced three different ways to create value and shade with pencil. In this drawing, made with 7th grade students, we used artist tape on a square drawing sheet. We made an asterisk, being careful to stick the tape on any cloth before putting it on paper. In this way the tape becomes less adhesive and you avoid to tear the paper. With a soft pencil we drew the … [Read more...]
Monochrome photos: a color hunt!
February 2, 2017 by 1 Comment
The word MONOCHROME describes paintings, drawings, design, or photographs in one color or values of one color. A monochromatic object or image reflects colors in shades of limited colors or hues. For an image, the term monochrome is usually taken to mean the same as black and white or, more likely, grayscale, but may also be used to refer to other combinations containing only tones of a single … [Read more...]
Like tissues at the microscope: shading exercise
December 29, 2016 by 2 Comments
In order to comprehend the shading effects in a drawing, it's very useful working on the perception of the depth. Adding shadows on a flat drawing helps our perception in seeing the three-dimensional effects of the depth. It's a sort of "magic": we can understand the different layers just if the shadows are in the right spots. I'm glad to show here below a great video tutorial from … [Read more...]
Artist Trading Card Global Swap 2016 from Italy
December 7, 2016 by 2 Comments
With great pleasure I publish here the Artist Trading Cards, created by ten Italian Schools which took part with me in the project Artist Trading Card Global Swap 2016. Our cards have already arrived to Minnesota, where Nic Hahn and her staff are dividing them, in order to ship them in other 100 Schools around the world. We are looking forward to receive the new cards from the Schools that took … [Read more...]
Meeting with the artist: Albino Rossi
November 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Having a meeting with an artist is always a special experience: we are used to appreciating the works of art, but a meeting with an artist makes us able to read his creations in a different way, with more affection and depth. This October we visited a beautiful exhibition at the Casa dei Gentili di Sanzeno (Trento) . The exhibit showed the whole artistic activity of ALBINO ROSSI, an Italian artist … [Read more...]
I-cube: me in numbers
November 20, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Can we introduce ourselves with numbers? We can do it on the 6 sides of a cube! We called this activity I-cube and we used numbers to explain our hobbies, our special numbers, our relatives and our favorite sports. Actually, I have used it to review the main subjects of Color Theory: every side of the cube is decorated with a number which represent the author, but is also colored with six … [Read more...]
Still life on abstract background
September 28, 2016 by 8 Comments
In order to understand the light and shadow on a solid we drew the shades on a group of objects with a pencil. In this still life some students of 8° grade have also experienced shading with crossed lines (cross-hatching), showing some skill! The background was decorated with felt-tip pens, with an abstract design where everyone has expressed freely his style. This contrast between the still … [Read more...]
