Don't miss the boat!

I'm certain you are already familiar with Deep Space Sparkle, the awesome blog created by Patty?  If you aren't, you're missing the boat!!
Here's a "Sparkle" lesson we did recently, and I loved the results.  The messiness, in my opinion, made the artworks all the better.  Note* prepare your students to appreciate the messy results before they do the project.  We talked about the fact that prints can be more interesting when they're not perfect copies of the original.  (In the one class where I didn't have time to have that discussion, many kids were frustrated w/ the outcome of their prints.  My lesson learned, make time to have that discussion!)

As Patty said, the order of the painting is important to get the best prints.
(First fold paper in half before painting, this makes folding in half after painting easier.)
1. Paint dark blue ocean first
2. Outline boats and sun with light blue, then paint light blue sky around outlines.
3.  Paint sun.
4.  Paint boat(s).
5. Paint white sails.
6. Paint black outlines.
7. Fold over, open, and reveal.

Big thanks to San Benito Elementary students!

More Bicycle Art

 Here's another bicycle art project inspired by Joel Henriques.  Joel's blog and website can be found in this earlier post on bicycle art projects.
Our steps were:
1.  Draw bicycle on black construction paper with a white oil pastel or crayon.  (Simple bike drawing steps here.)
2.  Glue construction paper scraps to piece of paper creating a "row of colors".  Some kid chose to use cut scraps, and others chose to use "torn" paper scraps.
3.  Cut the row of colors with a paper cutter for a straight edge, or with scissors for non-straight edge.
4.  Glue colored construction strip onto black paper, above or below bicycle.

Here's what the color strip looks like when cut with paper cutter.

Thanks Flamson students!

Contemporary Style Bicycle Art

We're getting ready for the Amgen Tour of California bicycle race to come to our town.  What a fabulous, exciting event!!  Have you seen it on t.v.?  These were made to go in storefront windows in downtown Paso Robles where Stage 5 of the race will be finishing on May 19th.

Made by Joel is one of my favorite blogs.  He's so clever and his art is so fresh.  I turned to his "bicycle art" to inspire this lesson.  We talked about composition and minimalism before doing our own versions.
I gave the students a circle template for the wheels, then I helped them draw a bicycle with a directed drawing lesson.  (I let the students embellish or redesign their bike drawings, as they wanted.)  The students also liked "signing" their art with their initials in a similar style to Joel Henriques artist signature.

Here are the steps for drawing a simple bike:

 Circles for wheels and gears in between

 Triangle for back of bike frame.

 Front tubing, attached to front wheel.

 Top tube, and front down tubing attached to front tube.

 Seat post and handlebar post.

 Seat, shaped like a saddle.

 Handlebars, I encourage kids to make their handle bars facing up or down or straight out.

 Cranks and pedals attached to gears.

Spokes and tires.

Great job Flamson students!!
Coming soon will be another version of bicycle art using construction paper and glue!

Bunny Card Time!

Super cute bunny card!  Find instructions and PDF download here.
If you want, you can even write a fun message on the bunny flaps:)