Welcome to The Helpful Art Teacher, an interdisciplinary website linking visual arts to math, social studies, science and language arts.

Learning how to draw means learning to see. A good art lesson teaches us not only to create but to look at, think about and understand our world through art.

Please click on my page to see my personal artwork and artist statement: http://thehelpfulartteacher.blogspot.com/p/the-art-of-rachel-wintembe.html

Please contact me at thehelpfulartteacher@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Under water world, from inspiration to transformation,a journey ofimagination


From the sketchbook of 
The Helpful Art Teacher

Below are some of the drawings I created in my sketchbook while I was developing ideas for this art lesson.
My goal was to produce artwork with a surrealistic, dream like quality. 



















What is an un-tutorial? Typically a tutorial succeeds when the student's artwork looks just like the master's. but what if the art teacher wants to inspire you to become an artist yourself and find your own creative voice? 

This article is a departure from the tutorial.  It is  my attempt to deconstruct the artistic process and show, not tell, what goes on in an artist's mind. Art making is, by nature, an intuitive journey. Choose the photographs below that interest you. Look at them and play these movies as you are painting or drawing. Your art will not look like mine. It will be uniquely yours, not a reflection of my vision but a synthesis of your own observations, experiences and thoughts. 

When you are done creating your own under water world, find something else that inspires you and begin to sketch, film and photograph. Gather and create as many images as you can. I visited oceans, aquariums and pet stores and filled camera rolls and sketchbooks as I was making these films. Except where otherwise noted, the photographs below are my own. A few photographs from Hawaii by my husband, Tim Wintemberg, depict the underwater world we explored together snorkeling with our daughter in 2010. My exploration of imaginary oceans has just begun.










Ochre Sea Star, Pacific Ocean, Washington


Octopus, Wegman's Market, New Jersey


Pacific Ocean, Northern California

Octopus, Wegman's Market, New Jersey

Ochre Sea Star, Pacific Ocean, La Push Beach, Washington

Ochre Sea Star, Pacific Ocean, Quileute Indian reservation, Washington

Limpet shell, Pacific Ocean, Quileute Indian reservation, Washington

Pacific Ocean, Quileute Indian reservation, Washington

Ochre Sea Star, Pacific Ocean, Quileute Indian reservation, Washington





Basket Starfish, Feiro Marine Life Center, Port Angeles, Washington

Jelly fish, Monterey Bay Aquarium, California

Jelly fish Monterey Bay Aquarium, California


Jelly fish, Monterey Bay Aquarium, California

Jelly fish, Monterey Bay Aquarium, California

Jelly fish,Monterey Bay Aquarium, California


Jelly fish, Monterey Bay Aquarium, California


Sea Anemones, Feiro Marine Life Center, Port Angeles, Washington

California Academy of Sciences

California Academy of Sciences

California Academy of Sciences

California Academy of Sciences

California Academy of Sciences

California Academy of Sciences



Jelly fish, Monterey Bay Aquarium, California

Jelly fish, Monterey Bay Aquarium, California

Feiro Marine Life Center, Port Angeles, Washington

Feiro Marine Life Center, Port Angeles, Washington

Basket Starfish, Feiro Marine Life Center, Port Angeles, Washington

Pike Place Fish Market, Seattle Washington


Monterey Bay Aquarium, California

Parrot Fish, Hawaii, Photo Credit: Tim Wintemberg
Parrot Fish, Hawaii, Photo Credit: Tim Wintemberg

Unicorn Fish, Hawaii, Photo Credit: Tim Wintemberg

Hawaii, under water photography by Tim Wintemberg

Hawaii, under water photography by Tim Wintemberg

Hawaii, under water photography by Tim Wintemberg

Hawaii, under water photography by Tim Wintemberg


Yellow Tang, Hawaii, under water photography by Tim Wintemberg

Hawaii, under water photography by Tim Wintemberg

Hawaii, under water photography by Tim Wintemberg

Hawaii, under water photography by Tim Wintemberg

Hawaii, under water photography by Tim Wintemberg


Moon Snail Shells

Moon Snail Shells

Moon Snail Shells


Drawing by Rachel Wintemberg,
The Helpful Art Teacher
Graphic Pen and Copic Marker
On paper, 2013

Watercolor series by Rachel Wintemberg, 2014

After Man 1 (sold)
After Man 2, 9"x 12", Watercolor (sold)
After Man 3, 9"x 12", Watercolor (sold)
After Man 4, 9"x 12", Watercolor (sold)

After Man, 6"x 30", Watercolor


Water paterns by Rachel Wintemberg, 
The Helpful Art Teacher
Additional resources
Walt Disney's movie Fantasia has unparalleled animation of fish dancing to music from the Nutcracker Suite by   Tchaikovsky


For additional information and resources on the animation of Walt Disney's  Fantasia,  click here.

Some tips and tricks for drawing sea shells and other natural forms

UNDER WATER THEMES IN CONTEMPORARY ART
Inertia by Jason deCaires Taylor

Banker 
by Jason deCaires Taylor


From the artist's website, 
http://www.underwatersculpture.com/ :
"Jason deCaires Taylor is an internationally acclaimed eco-sculptor who creates underwater living sculptures, offering viewers mysterious, ephemeral encounters and fleeting glimmers of another world where art develops from the effects of nature on the efforts of man. His site-specific, permanent installations are designed to act as artificial reefs, attracting corals, increasing marine biomass and aggregating fish species, while crucially diverting tourists away from fragile natural reefs and thus providing space for natural rejuvenation. Subject to the abstract metamorphosis of the underwater environment, his works symbolize a striking symbiosis between man and nature, balancing messages of hope and loss.
Taylor’s sculptures change over time with the effects of their environment. These factors create a living aspect to the works, which would be impossible to reproduce artificially. As time passes and the works develop biological growth, they redefine the underwater landscape, evolving within the narrative of nature."






For more under water art activities and ideas, click on this link:

To see a large collection, by many contemporary artists, of creative fantastic fish and under water creatures click on the link below:


To view live webcams of ocean reefs from all over the world, click on the link below:





3 comments:

  1. Love your artwork! These are great!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't ordinarily comment but I gotta admit thank you
    for the post on this one :D.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your articles are inventive. I am looking forward to reading the plethora of articles that you have linked here. Thumbs up! οικιακά φίλτρα νερού

    ReplyDelete