March of the Penguins

 Ella, 1st grade

 Reese, 1st grade

 Aven, Kinder

 Campbell, Kinder

 Izzy, Kinder

 Jolie, Kinder

 Kaden, 2nd grade

 Kate, Kinder

Lauren, Kinder

My classes looked at the illustrations in the children's book, Solo by Paul Geraghty. It's the story of a young penguin who is left alone in the icy Antarctic for the first time. My students drew their penguins on pale pink construction paper so they could see their white chalk pastel shading for the penguin face and body. Heads were done in Sharpie or charcoal. Since a little goes a long way with charcoal, I had my young students keep the charcoal stick on the table and just run their pointer finger along it to add shadows. This prevented penguins that were completely smudged in black. For the backgrounds, snow beneath their feet was painted with white and pale blue acrylic and sky with liquid watercolor and salt (always a crowd pleaser). The last touch before their cut penguins were glued to their backgrounds was a splattering of watered down white acrylic to create a snowy atmosphere. Nice job kids!

Miss Mary

Denise Fleming Inspired Collages

"Bear sniffed once. She sniffed twice. 'I smell winter in the air' said bear. 'It is time to crawl in my cave and sleep. But first I must tell snail."

My group of mostly kindergarten students looked at the art of Denise Fleming in her beautiful book Time To Sleep. Her pulp painting illustrations are full of rich autumn hues showing the animals of the forest getting ready to settle down for a winter nap. I wanted to focus on the texture aspect of Fleming's art and also create a tactile focused art lesson for my young group.

 I had the children create textured paper for their trees and leaves with sponges and acrylics. They created their bears with sponge brushes and even q-tips on orange construction paper to create a painterly effect. All components were cut out and glued to a yellow, orange and gold sponge painted background. And last they used leaf stamps to add more autumn leaves.

Children's Book Inspired Art Lessons

According to my husband and daughter, I am a bit of a children's book hoarder. I do cherish my collection of books, some with copyright dates well before my birth year (1967). I am grateful to my Mom for signing me up for The Weekly Reader Book Club which ignited my love of children's book illustrations. 

Last week I began a new class, Children's Book Art Fun, where my students are creating art inspired by various illustrators. I told my young group that when I go to the library or book store, I can't pass a chance to discover some beautiful new picture books. Below you will find some of my students' art work inspired by various children's books and their illustrators from the past 5 years of teaching (with links to the original post). Stay tuned for more!

Chameleons Are Cool, Sue Shields

 Carl's Afternoon in the Park, Alexandra Day

 The Colors of Us, Karen Katz

 Animals, Animals, Eric Carle

Eric Carle Cityscapes

 How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? Mark Teague

 Harry by the Sea, Gene Zion

 The Goodnight Gecko, Gill McBarnet

 The Hare and the Tortoise, Brian Wildsmith

 Armadillo Ray, Peggy Turley

 Snowballs, Lois Ehlert

 Rhinos Who Play Baseball, Julie Mammano

Rhinos Who Surf, Julie Mammano

 Il Sung Na, Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit

 Solomon Crocodile, Catherine Rayner

 Giraffes Can't Dance, Guy Parker-Rees

Giraffes Can't Dance, Guy Parker-Rees

Zen Shorts, John. J. Muth

Blog List Rebuilding

 Ally has such a winning smile ...minus a few teeth

Kobe loved hiding under the Christmas tree. Unfortunately, he became "confused" and relieved himself on the tree skirt a few times. But who could be mad at that face?

No my dogs have nothing to do with this post. But I wanted to include a photo and my kids (ages 13-19) aren't exactly keen on having their picture posted. You'd think they were in the Witness Protection Plan. Aah, teens.

So, I had well over 100 blogs in my blog list and thought I'd edit it down to those who have blogged at least in the past year. (I'm forgiving in that way - babies are born, kids are being raised, jobs are busy!) Unfortunately, I inadvertently wiped the proverbial slate clean. And without Google Reader I don't know if there is an easy way to go about building it back up. Any suggestions? Can you transfer blogs from Bloglovin easily? I like to have a blogroll on my page so I can instantly see what people are posting. Thanks in advance for any help!

A Year of Art - At a Glance

Looking back on a year of art from MaryMaking

and looking ahead to a Wonderful, Creative year in 2015!

Wishing you all the Very Best in the New Year!

Mary

The Gift of Art

 Sonja - 4th grade

Cora - 1st grade

These two Beautiful works were created by sisters who wanted to give their ocean-loving dad a gift of art this Christmas (Well, their mom had a bit to do with the idea). We had talked about jellyfish, but the girls were very enthusiastic about seahorses. When I brought up the idea of one doing a close up and the other the full "body", each girl instantly knew what they wanted to do. 

Sonja's was created in watercolor and salt. Cora created her seahorse in watercolor and marker (for the small details.) I cut this out and we glued it to a background of oil pastel and salt and watercolor. They chose their color schemes completely on their own and I love the fact that they go together nicely, without being too matchy-matchy. I know he'll be thrilled to receive these. Beautiful work girls! (I so enjoyed our time together and your laughter at my failed attempts in pronouncing Sinterklaas!) You've inspired me to do a seahorse lesson in my classes next month.

Winter Squirrels II

my experiment

For my last art project of 2014, (Wow, that went by fast!) my class followed this very basic tutorial. We looked at different species of squirrels including red and gray and the children then used chalk pastels to add color. If we had more time I would have liked for them to really focus on texture and shadow. But we were in a bit of a mad dash with this project. They had the option of having their squirrels carry acorns or stacked presents (made with squares of scrapbook paper and ribbon). By cutting along the squirrels arms, they were able to carry their items. Backgrounds were created with liquid watercolor and white acrylic printed snowfall.

Wishing you all Happy Holidays 

and Best Wishes for the New Year!