Is Monday Over Yet?

I did this Grumpy Cat on Mark Rothko inspired color fields lesson over a year ago. Their pitiful faces have a reverse effect on me - I can't help but smile! Wishing you All a Wonderful Week!

Kindergarten Pastel Peacocks

The theme for this month's class is Wings and Fins (birds and sea creatures.) We broke down the parts of this gorgeous creature in steps. I told my kinders they could create an imaginary peacock using whatever colors they desired or more realistic colors. I love seeing where fearless five year olds go from there. Most of my group were headed to get ice cream at Cold Stone with their Girl Scout troop afterward, so they were Extra Exuberant - as you can see! (Silly Miss Mary asked,"Now are you all Girl Scouts or Brownies?" We're Girl Scouts. We're not Brownies because we don't sell brownies." Lol!)  And despite all my little tips and tricks, most of these cuties were covered in beautiful hues up to their elbows and some great face smudges. It's not art class if you're not getting a little dirty!
Link to the original post of this lesson is here.

Beyond Direct Line Draw Lessons

 Abstract Collages

Jim Dine Valentines

Nature Contour Drawings with Bleeding Tissue

Mixed Media Abstract Collage

While the majority of my art lessons tend to be animal subjects using a basis of direct line drawing lessons, I do Love veering into more personal observation and abstract based lessons. Maybe because my personal art is so reality based, I tend to be drawn into the opposite direction. I think abstract lessons level the playing field so to speak, for those children who feel their drawing skills aren't what they'd hope, but have So much to say and a desire to create. 

The above collage student work (observational and abstract - with links to the original post) are some art lessons I've done without the aid of Miss Mary's white board and marker. I will continue to do direct line drawing lessons and make no apologies for it. But I hope to incorporate more observational and student driven thought into my art lessons. (Thank you Phyl! You are such a Great mentor to me.) 

Random Acts of Creativity

Alcohol Ink Tiles with Metal Embossing

We combined alcohol ink tiles and metal embossing for a twist

on Jim Dine Heart pieces. The tiles were a big hit a couple years

ago at my daughter's 11th birthday party here. 

Directions for tiles can be found here.

With a couple coats of Krylon Crystal Clear spray

these tiles can make great trivets or coasters.

Metal Tooling with Metallic Marker Borders

My piece is being gifted to my Mom and Dad

My students and I experimented with metal repousse or embossing on small squares of aluminum. I was inspired by this project from Georgetown Elementary Art Blog. We used dull pencils and ballpoint pens to create designs. We had the option of adding ink to our pieces or flipping them over to use the reverse raised side. It was a medium that my tween students and I thoroughly enjoyed. I offered pieces of black square construction paper and metallic markers to continue or add to their metal designs.

Gelatin Printing

The girls enjoyed experimenting with nature gelatin prints inspired by this post from Cassie Stephens.

They unanimously agreed that the "ghost" prints, (after the leaves were removed) were the most interesting, resembling x-rays.

A special thanks to my Tuesday afternoon group of girls! It was fun exploring new media with you!

Moonlit Giraffe Portraits

My kindergarten through 2nd graders looked at the illustrations by Guy Parker-Rees in the book Giraffes Can't Dance. They created their up-close giraffes using the wet on wet technique with liquid watercolors. Using all sides of their paper, they were encouraged to create a detailed jungle background of leaves, vines, flowers and a full moon in oil pastels. They could see how it resisted the blue watercolor that was then painted for the night sky. Last, they added stars with acrylic using the backs of their paint brushes.

 1st grade

 Kinder

 1st grade

Kinder

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.