Stick Season Landscapes inspired by Wolf Kahn

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It is “stick season” here in Vermont (at least for another hour or so— then we are moving on to full blown winter!) so it is the perfect time to learn about the artist #WolfKahn and create some colorful #chalkpastel #landscape drawings inspired by his work. Also, #novemberinvermont could use some of these bright colors, don’t you think? @faystonschool #gradesoneandtwo

A post shared by Nora (@artclass_allday) on Nov 11, 2019 at 11:09am PST

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I loved how his #youngartist became the self-elected curator of our mini @wolfkahn display. #gradesoneandtwo @faystonschool #elementaryart

A post shared by Nora (@artclass_allday) on Nov 15, 2019 at 5:44am PST

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These young artists have never been more engaged with observing and talking about art than when we looked at the work of @wolfkahn They loved making guesses about the choices the artist made and creating their own meaning and stories about each piece. #gradesoneandtwo @faystonschool

A post shared by Nora (@artclass_allday) on Nov 13, 2019 at 8:02am PST

Cosmic Landscapes inspired by Peter Max

From the Peter Max Website:

America's Painter Laureate and Pop Art Icon, Peter Max's bold colors, uplifting images and uncommon artistic diversity have touched almost every aspect of American culture and has inspired many generations.

Max's work has been called cosmic and psychedelic. His more recent works represent his ideas about a harmonious, beautiful world. He is well known for his album cover art, particularly for the Beatles.

Fifth and sixth grade artists examined many of Max's works before designing their own cosmic landscapes in his style. Each student's piece contains elements that can be seen in many of Max's works. What are some of the repeated images and themes that you see in the Peter Max pictures above and in the student work below?

Arctic Landscapes inspired by Canadian Artist Ted Harrison

#landscape paintings inspired by #tedharrison by #faystonschool #gradesoneandtwo

A post shared by Nora (@artclass_allday) on Apr 23, 2018 at 10:38am PDT

Trocial Landscapes inspired by Paul Gauguin

#itcanthurttodream about a #tropicallandscape when you're dealing with crazy VT weather. #faystonschool #gradesfiveandsix inspired by #paulgauguin

A post shared by Nora (@artclass_allday) on Jan 29, 2018 at 6:07am PST

Zentangle Landscapes

What is a Zentangle?

Zentangle is a way of creating drawn art from repetitive patterns. It increases focus, mindfulness and creativity. This process should connect body and mind and help the artist feel relaxed and present, similar to a state of meditation.  I feel that it is an important art tool to teach at the beginning of the school year.  This technique of careful, focused drawing can help students (and teachers!) deal with stress and find focus when it is most needed.  

There are many ways to draw a Zentangle. Click here to learn more about the Zentangle Method. Click here to watch some Zentangle techniques on YouTube. 


Fifth and sixth graders created Zentangle Landscapes for their Original Works submissions. We used Sharpie markers, Crayola Super Tips markers, Crayola watercolor pencils and regular colored pencils.

Fill-in-the-blank Landscape Drawings

Third and fourth grade artists used pages from landscape calendars to create these beautiful landscape drawings. We cut them into two inch trips, then removed every other strip. The artists used what we had learned during our color mixing unit to work on matching the colors in the original photograph using only colored pencils. I am so impressed with the quality of work on this lesson as well as the focus and effort that students put in to these. Look for many of them on display at the Bridge Street Art Fair!

"Fill-in-the-Blank Landscapes" .... Sneak Preview

I couldn't wait to share this! Students have been working so hard on this lesson, but schedule changes due to our ski days and our artist-in-residence have really dragged it out. Here is a piece of student work, followed by my example. Artists really focused on color mixing and matching.  More to come!