Stacked Shapes - Op Art

These "Stacked Shapes" were done on the LAST day of school, this past June. The kids had already packed their things, and the classroom was bare....but no worries, still a little time for just ONE MORE art lesson! (I try not to pick favorites, can't help it this time....It's the Cheese-Its!)Big thanks to Deborah Brooks at Arapahoe Ridge Elementary for submitting this lesson plan to Artsonia, and she thanks Linda Welling for showing her the lesson first.Step1: Choose 2 shapes, then draw them vertically in an AB pattern.
Step 2: Add a circle to the inside of each shape.
Step 3: Draw a shadow line on the outside edge of each shape.
Step 4: Draw a shadow line inside the circle, on the "opposite" side of where the first shadow line was drawn. (This indicates a hole in the shape.)
Step 5: Color & add a background.The results.......

Big thanks to Flamson Middle School kids in Sra. Velasco's 7th grade class!

Fall means back to school - My 1st online class....

Image by Alaskan Dude via Flickr Have you been tempted by online classes taught/offered by fellow bloggers? I have, but never signed up....Until now! This one seems super fun (and it helped that I knew I had about $25 in my PayPal account jumping up & down saying "You've had me in here for awhile now, waiting for that something special on Etsy & you haven't found it -- so here I am, spend me now.").
Carla's sample worksheet sealed the deal, and I'll officially be a "student" again on Sept. 15th! Maybe you'll join me? Let me know if you do:)

P.S. I also signed up because Carla says the class is 10 min./day & if I don't take at least 10 min. a day to do something just for me this fall, I deserve those extra wrinkly furrows that will surely be added to my forehead!

Cool Geckos!

Cover via Amazon

This lesson came from "The Usborne Book of Art Skills" and kids love it. Step 1: Draw lizards with pencil on thick white paper.

Step 2: Trace all pencil lines with crayon or oil pastels.
Step 3: Watercolor the lizards and background.
(Here's a simple step by step lizard drawing tutorial.)

Eyes

Add rainbow line connecting eyes.

2 fish hooks

Curvy toes on ends of fish hooks.

2 body lines with hooks at the end

Curvy toes.Big smile line for tail.

Add spots.

BIG Thanks to summer ARTISTS:

Keara, Ellie, Katelynn, Hobie, Isaac, Hannah, Michelle, Molly

What kids say!

Saw this in San Francisco at the De Young Museum this week, Renoir, Boy with Cat.

Next to me, mom says to her little girl, "Oh Kristin, look at this painting, it has a cat. I bet it's your favorite?" Little girl said, "I'd like it better if he had his underwear on."

Owl Reflections

Here are the steps for "Owl Reflections":

1. Fold large white paper in half and draw owl, branch, moon, stars, and water line with black crayon or oil pastel, on the top half of the paper. (Only draw the outline, do not color yet. The lines need to be dark.) Here's an easy tutorial for owl drawing.

2. Fold drawing over and press hard to get an imprint on bottom half of paper. (Tell students the image will be hard to see and they may have to use their "Superman" eyes to see it.) Then trace over the lines on the bottom half of the paper w/ black crayon or pastel.

3. Now color in the owl, branch, moon, and moon glow behind the owl.

4. Paint over the whole paper with blue watercolor. Then add more blue watercolor to the water, to delineate the difference between it and the sky.

Thanks bunches summer art students Hobie, Taylor, and Trevor!!!

Thanks also to Andrea Mulder-Slater, of KinderArt for the lesson idea:)