One-Point Perspective Spooky Landscapes

 My example on light paper

My example on black paper

I know! My students were quick to point out that it wasn't October. But I have been doing quite a bit of animal themed projects lately and I was inspired by this wonderful One Point Perspective Lesson from SmART Class and this lesson by Shine Brite Zamorano inspired by this artwork . My students chose between black or light colored construction paper to set their mood. I used Natalie's incredibly helpful guidelines to help the children set up their landscape. Chalk pastel was used to set the atmosphere for sky, ground, roads, and shadows. Oil pastel was used for the trees. The trickiest part for the kids seemed to be making those first trees in the foreground Large and working down from there.It is a bit advance for younger children, but they did a great job! These were created by children 6-9. More to post!

Giraffes by Moonlight

This project is inspired by the book "Giraffes Can't Dance." I have done the dancing giraffe version which is a real favorite among the children. This go around, we focused on layered moonlit giraffe portraits. Giraffes were created using the wet on wet technique that created the "bleeding" spot effect. The children created the backgrounds using oil pastels for the leaves and moon followed by a watercolor night sky.  To create an added layer, the children cut out leaves from watercolor and salt paper they had made earlier. I encouraged them just to cut organic leaf-like shapes and not worry about drawing them out first. Last, they added stars with the backs of their brushes using white acrylic. This project required the children to follow quite a few directions and keep it moving along at a brisk pace to finish them up in one afternoon. Well done kids! These are full of personality! (Ages 6-10)

Cats on Color Fields

My 6-9 year old group created their gray tabby cats first using watercolor and charcoal. For a background twist, they looked at Mark Rothko's Color Field paintings and created their own with chalk pastels choosing color combinations to convey a certain mood.

Bold Painted Cows

Is it just me or are there a lot of cow paintings being pinned on Pinterest lately? I have done Many animal art projects, but cows....I think I have neglected. After seeing these magnificent paintings by Jean Francois Sineux on Design Mom, I was inspired to give it a go with my Mixed Media Drawing and Painting class. The children used sponges and brushes to apply acrylics to their drawn cow forms. Details and shadows were added with charcoal and Sharpie. Beautiful bovines kids! (ages 6-9)

Pastel Elf Owls

Happy 10th Birthday Jenna!

Before Winter Break my Animal Art Fun kids created these owls in their choice of oil or chalk pastel. This was a very open ended project as I allowed them to create realistic or imaginary birds. Our inspiration was the Elf Owl, a very tiny round headed owl that live in the southwest of the US and Mexico and often reside in cacti. My 6 thru 9 year olds followed a loose direct line drawing lesson but could make their own unique spin on things.Their cutout owls were glued on top of a moonlit sky created with watercolor and acrylic moon and stars. It always fascinates and delights me to see the direction children will take the same project directions.

Artsy Birthday Fun!

My daughter turned 11 a few weeks ago (12 days before Christmas to be exact.) And my niece, Shaeye, (who is under our care) celebrated her 17th birthday 6 days later. Needless to say, December can be a bit overwhelming for us financially. So I was thrilled when Savannah responded to my Artsy Birthday party idea with enthusiasm. It didn't break the bank, but still was a Huge hit with the girls.

Most of the ideas for this party I discovered courtesy of Pinterest. See, it's not a complete waste of time!  

The plan: pick up the girls on a Friday afternoon from school and walk to our home. Art project itinerary: 

1.) Suminagashi (Japanese Paper Marbling) 2.) Alcohol Ink Tiles 3.) Hand Painted Christmas Ornaments

A little "Just Dance 4", Pizza and Cupcakes and more Cupcakes. I'm 45 and this sounds like a fun party to me! :)

Most of the projects were left with me over the weekend so I could add Mod Podge to the Ink Tiles and ornaments, and glue to the Suminagashi prints to create notebooks and notecards. 

Everything was packaged up and brought to school on Monday for the girls to take home.

 Leaving school, party bound

 Each girl created 2 tiles (6"X6") to be used as trivets or whatever. Coasters would also be a great idea.

 I stumbled upon these ceramic ornaments in the clearance aisle at 

Michaels for .50 each! And what art teacher doesn't have acrylic paint laying around?

 These prints were glued onto colored construction paper to create 

one of a kind notecards. I found some photo print paper that worked 

great in lieu of the copperplate paper that is recommended.

The girls could have played around with these Suminagashi prints all day..so much fun! 

I have plans to incorporate them into an art project in a future class.

                                     

          I took the girls' favorite Suminagashi print and glued it to a notebook a la The Dollar Tree -

 Instant designer journal

Thanks to my Mom and unofficial president of my fan club for all her help with the party.

I couldn't have done it without her!
And of course she was up there dancing with the girls - she's so Cool!

Some time to move around with Just Dance 4 on the Wii

Happy Birthday Savannah!

Abstract Collages

Gabrielle

Tommy

 Alexa

 Sutton

 Luc

 Sarah

 Hank

 Kate

 Jenna

 Olivia

Today I had my second 2 hour art workshop of Winter Break, Abstract Art Fun. This project was inspired by the fantastic art of Mollie Moseley Morrison at MOMO Art Gallery. She is also an art teacher and has a great blog, Kids Art Market. I love her collaged work where she combines different cut up paintings; they are colorful, bold and full of energy. To try to accomplish this with my group of 5-9 year olds was a bit ambitious for a single 2 hour class, but we did it. The children created 3 different patterned watercolor pages. My niece was kind enough to blow these dry to speed up the process. The children then cut them up and reconfigured them to create a work of art. We talked about repeating shapes, lines and colors in our collages. I would love to try this again spread out with more time and incorporate her wonderful paper weaving technique.