Toucans of the Rainforest

 Beautiful details and composition Lauren! (6)

(Artwork by K-6th graders)

My Animals Around the World groups headed to the Amazon Rainforest to create some colorful toucans using acrylic paint on roofing felt. Yes, another project using my new favorite canvas - and I'm not done yet! I gave the kids pieces of sidewalk chalk to draw their birds and flora. They were given oil pastels and acrylics to fill in their designs. Most chose to paint, except for a few details. They had the option of painting their backgrounds or leaving them black. I love the diversity in these! Next stop - Orcas in Alaska.

Update: Be sure to use Natural roofing felt, Not synthetic, which can contain fiber glass. 

African Elephants with Watercolor Landscapes

Gorgeous Talia! 

If these look familiar, my blog header has an artwork from the same lesson I did a couple years ago. This was the second project from Day 1 of my Animals Around the World class. I gave the kids a variety of liquid watercolors to create a wet on wet sunrise or sunset landscape background. It's always fun to see how each child goes about this, some very methodical and others with reckless abandon. We put these up to dry and started on our elephant profiles. These were done on brown grocery bag paper. No longer free in these parts, but well worth the 10 cents. A couple months of shopping at Trader Joe's and voila! I like the texture of the paper to mimic the worn look of elephant skin. Children followed a direct line drawing lesson which was basic enough for even my youngest to follow. They were encouraged to add lots of wrinkles. A light coat of gray pastel was added and some charcoal shadows. Some kids chose to add black acrylic silhouettes to their background before profiles were cut out and glued. Off to different continents to create new creatures next week!

Mixed Media Pandas

My Animals Around the World groups (K-5th) kicked off their first day of class creating mixed media pandas from China. Pandas were created using permanent marker and charcoal and backgrounds with oil pastel bamboo with liquid watercolor. By the time we were done hands (and some faces) were nicely smudged. Next up ....Elephants of Africa.

 My experiment

 1st grade - love the expression

 2nd grade

Kinder - never turn your back on a 5 year old with a palette full of watercolors 

Lol! Love this fauve piece!

Watercolor Tigers

I had my last class of the school year this week. I still can't believe how fast that went! My k-4th graders created their bold tigers with permanent marker and their choice of watercolor. This was perfect for a one class project. In a couple weeks I'll start my summer art class series. The themes this year are: Animals Around the World, Unique Materials Art Fun, and Draw, Paint, Print, Collage. I'll be posting student work throughout the next few months. I'm hoping we can squeeze in a quick getaway to San Diego, Las Vegas, or at least a little staycation.

Wishing you all a Wonderful Summer!