Leif Erikson Day Self-Portraits!

Leif Erikson Day was on October 9th so of course we had to do a project about him! Throughout the project, we learned about Leif as well as vikings in general. It blew their minds when they found out that vikings were real and not just a football team (Mr. Calvert's favorite team at that! Don't hate ya'll!). We learned that Leif was the first European to come to North America, 500 years before Christopher Columbus.

This project was another one of Cassie Stephens'. Her projects are just too cool not to do! Check out her blog. Seriously.

Our first day of this project was probably the craziest day of art in my life. Students were given a large sheet of paper in which they first sponge painted white on to. Then they chose two other colors to sponge on top of their white. Next, they took a 9x12 sheet of white and green to the back counter where they learned to dry brush from the center of the paper out to the edges. When dry-brushing, they started with green paint, then yellow, and lastly white. All of this in an action-packed 45 minute class period! Oofda! Mr. Calvert slept well that night!

The second day of the project, we tore our dry-brushed papers the long way. Then we layered these papers, starting in the center of the paper and working our way down. This created a grassy hillside for our viking. Next, they used a tracer to create a body and then cut out and glued their own picture onto their viking's head.

The next two class periods were spent adding details to our vikings such as shields, belts, buckles, boots, beards, braids, etc. 

I love how well these turned out. They're so stinkin' cute!