Ornaments From Seashells

This is the start of some clever angel ornaments.  I found the idea while browsing the web looking for entries to my Pinterest account. 

We will be making these sweet ornaments next week as a reward activity.  The students that signed up have used 5 reward coupons to be able to do this craft.

I have to add a few trims and hanging cords to my samples, but they are almost finished.

Shell Designs

"Super Shells" by Cody grade 5

Students composed the shells and arranged background patterns to highlight the shell shapes.

"Underwater Symphony"

by Rachel grade 5

In 5th grade we took a slightly different approach to the shell assignment. The students did the same observational drawingas the 6ht graders; however, I had them go over the lines in black sharpie ink. This was the first year for having complete sets of watercolor pencils, so I instructed them to draw with them dry and then using a damp brush we liquified the pigment and the colors blended beautifully.

To view the entire class set of shell designs by the 5th grade, please visit Artsonia.

Shell Paintings

To see more from this body of work by 6th grade students, please click on the artsonia link to check out the other great work done by the entire grade level.

Students in grade 6 spent some time making observational drawings of shells before creating the final work in mixed media. They chose a shell to take back to their work area and make realistic interpretations of the shell. It helped to draw the contour first and then look to see if the shell had a texture or a special pattern or color design. After the several shells were composed, we covered the shell shape with a heavy application of wax crayon. Sixth grade students took a more painterly approach when they washed in warm blends of brown watercolor for sand and cool blue mixtures for the ocean.

After the paint had dried, some students went back in an drew sand and water textures using colored pencil. Others added water bubbles or spray from the ocean using a white oil crayon.

It was an enjoyable project and the art pieces have been on display in the hallway between the music and art room.

Shells On the Beach

Students took one class period to draw from real shells, before composing the final painting. Shown in the photo are a few sketches of the shells from our observational drawing.

We took two slightly different approaches to the shell assignment. In fifth grade, we drew lightly in pencil and then shaded the edges of the shells using adjacent colors. The backgrounds are being finished up currently using repeated patterns. The pieces are very dynamic and imaginative. In sixth grade, we worked with pencil drawings and developed the shell colors by building up layers of wax crayon. Then a warm brown was mixed up for the sandy area of the beach and cool blues were made for the ocean waters. Salt sprinkled into the wet paint was optional and it created a perceived texture that imitated sand or water. Final details such as swirls and lines in watercolor pencil were added after the water color dried .

Stay tuned for more photos of finished work.