Ms. Edwards' Art Room

My own artwork has developed in theme and style since I graduated from Haverford college in 2003. During college my oil paintings consisted of still life paintings often incorporating flowers, self-portraits and sometimes butterflies. After college I did mostly self-portraits in pencil or charcoal. I took a few night classes in oil-painting and worked on my still-life painting skills. I also did my first painting from a photograph and I have done paintings on commission. After taking a collage and mixed media course for my Masters work I have expanded into the world of collage. Currently my oil paintings are based on butterfly wings I inherited from my grandfather. The painting are either direct representations of the colors and patterns of the wings or abstract landscapes I have found.

This is a fifth grade project which is a collaboration with the physical education department. Students learned about the technique of contour drawing and practiced on their shoes. Using this slow, line drawing technique students practiced until they were confident with the new technique. Contour drawing combines close observation with slow line drawing. After the students drew a final draft on white paper, color was added through tissue paper squares. Students overlapped tissue paper and added water to get the colors to bleed onto their paper. We talked about color theory and what happens when different colors combine to make new colors. The students could choose to use a color scheme of warm or cool colors or experiment with all of the colors. The finished product will be displayed in the gym in two different sections. One section will be the shoes that are appropriate for P.E. The other section will be footwear that is not appropriate in P.E.

This fourth grade project combines different watercolor techniques for a background with observational drawings of animals. Using a photo of an animal to draw from, students created a large drawing as the subject of the piece. We experimented with four techniques of watercolor painting. We learned about wet on wet, crayon resist, dry brush and the use of salt to create texture. Using some of these techniques students made decisions on how to artistically create a background environment for their animals. Using foam stickers students placed their animals on their backgrounds. The results were beautiful and exciting!