Pete the Cat

My Kindergarten and 1st graders had some fun with the very cute book, Pete the Cat, I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin, art by James Dean. The story follows Pete as he steps into a variety of situations but just keeps on going. They created their inspired pieces using tempera, watercolor and markers. Mr. Dean's (who left his job as an electrical engineer to become a full-time artist) playful, sketchy style was fun for them to mimic. And of course animals are always a favorite subject.

More Finger Painted Fauvist Landscapes

I was curious to see how my finger painted Fauvist landscape experiment would play out with my 3rd thru 5th graders. I have found that as much as I may encourage, cajole, and stress that they should feel free to use a variety of colors in each space of an Impressionist landscape, when a brush is involved it's easy to over-paint, creating flat spaces of color. Let's try the cool approach of edgy Jesse Reno. ( I showed them a video of his process a week prior.) This is clearly the baby step version to his full hand Expressionist painting style. Our inspiration piece was by a contemporary Fauve/Impressionist, Konnie Kim. They really enjoyed the process of "finger painting." There is a wonderful sense of immediacy about this technique. They used brushes to complete the detail work of the trees, but otherwise it's all pointer finger power.

My try at the experiment

My experiment

I was so inspired by a post by Pamela Holderman where her class created these fabulous expressive pieces painting with their hands. This in turn led me to artist Jesse Reno that she referenced. So I have been working on a few ideas based on "finger painting."

My kindergarten and 1st graders created a Fauvist landscape today largely using only their index finger. It was based on a Fauvist piece of Cypress trees with a very straightforward composition.

It required only 2 diagnal pencil lines to map out the perspective of the landscape.( I of course explained to them that Fauve was French for "wild beast" and these artists were given that name for their bold use of unrealistic color). From there they used only one finger to "swoosh and swirl" colors, double and triple dipping to create their background. Each time they changed a color section, they simply wiped their finger with their cloth rag. (I'm working my way up with baby steps to full hand painting with my older kids.)

They were given a brush to create their trees and were encouraged to use expressive brushstrokes and several colors. They LOVED creating these pieces. One boy said it felt like a "finger massage." And it prevented solid patches of color that we were trying to avoid with this particular project. Nice work you wild beasts!

Fernand Leger Minimal Portraits

So lovely and pensive. Have Mom frame this one Matt!

This artist got so upset about her face half way through. But just look how GORGEOUS it is Cate! She lost her front tooth just a minute later by the way! :D

This artist (kindergarten) always makes beautiful and independent choices. Wonderful work Alexa!

To kick off the new year, I wanted to introduce my students to a few artists they may have not heard of before. Leger was a French painter born in 1881 who created sleek futuristic work despite the fact that he came from peasant farming stock. Some consider him to be the original father of Pop Art. I showed the children how he used spaces of color over which he painted a minimal use of line in many of his pieces. As a graphic design major, this was instantly familiar. Many logos contain these same elements.

My younger elementary (K-3) students created these portraits by painting shapes in only 3 colors. I didn't want them to even think about how the portrait would play out on top. I thought it would be more fun to create these spontaneously. After the paint dried they created a Leger-like work using charcoal bold lines. (I plan to do some complex Leger inspired cities with my older children.)

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!

Both these projects were either from or inspired by Art Projects for Kids. The holiday candles was a great 1 day project that I adapted from Kathy and had the children use their choice of or a mix of media: markers, watercolor and oil pastels. This candle piece was done by 3rd grade boy who really enjoyed creating an intricate background. I cheered him on to finish because I thought the end result would be so dynamic. I was right... nice work Nick!

The colorful winter tree was a project I originally adapted last year. It is created by decoupaging squares of colored tissue paper to triangles of board. The background is done with oil pastel and watercolor. The tree trunks can be created using oil pastel or cut textured paper. The final touch is a snowfall of hole-punched dots. My daughter gave this one to her teacher. This is a nice rainy (or snowy) day activity for over the winter break. I love it because the outcomes can be so different.

My best to you all this holiday season!Enjoy your time with family and friends.

Winter Cardinals

Love this chubby guy shivering in the snowy night! Nice job Patrick (6)

Cardinals are a very popular art project this time of year. My students really enjoyed this since snow and Northern Cardinals are about as exotic as palm trees in Minnesota. So while we've had temperatures in the high 70's earlier this week, this project brought a bit of the winter holiday feel to us. Some of the children created a cool daytime sky, while others worked on a black nightime background. Some birds can be seen experiencing a light snowfall while others endure a full snowstorm. (Something tells me this goes against their better nature.) We created the cardinals using thin sharpie and watercolor and gluing the cut birds to their perch.

I loved this project because all ages felt successful as the direct line drawing lesson was so easy to follow.

Palm Frond Masks

About 5 months ago I found a pristine palm frond base while walking my beloved mutts. As any art teacher I am always looking for ideas to use different materials. (Dumpster diving is not out of the question for me.) This looked like a great canvas for a primitive mask. It took me all these months to find enough fallen palm fronds for my 3rd thru 5th graders to create their own. (Only to find out last week that one of my student's parents is a landscaper and could get a boatload :D )

I love primitive art and have a small collection of masks from Africa and Indonesia I shared with the children. We kept our palettes limited and I encouraged repetition of shape. But I didn't over direct this lesson.

More to come...

Van Gogh Meets The Masai

I wish I could take credit for the idea for this project. But that would go to the art teacher at J. B. Watkins Elementary in Midlothian, Virginia. I saw the fantastic pieces on Artsonia one day while I was "wandering" around. I instantly loved their energy, brightness and texture.

To create these inspired pieces in my K-3rd class we first talked about Van Gogh's use of strong textured brushstrokes. I told them I didn't want any pre-mixing and to use brushstrokes to capture the feeling of movement. I also challenged them to create 2 different strokes for the sky and grass. The colorful clothing of the Masai people of Kenya were created using leftover textured paper. The shapes were very simple as we were creating abstract people. Finally they added simple features to capture different movements of their people.