ART with Mrs. Smith

Doodle Fish

2012-02-09T18:03:00.000-08:00

Art Project Girl found a great page in an old art book that had a simple doodle drawing of fish, and I'm grateful she shared it here. Simple always grabs my attention!

Step 1: Loopy doodle ( I told the students no more than 8 loops on the page....you know what would've happened without the limit.)

Step 2: Add tails and face, then color.

Here are the "Doodle Fish" created by 4th graders.

Rock Fish

2012-02-07T16:16:00.000-08:00

Rock Fish for 4th Graders!

I added the exclamation because I'm so excited to finally have some lessons that can be special for particular grade levels. After years of traveling to many different schools, I'm now at one school and can start some art project traditions at various grade levels. Last year I chose the 4th grade class to make Rock Fish because the size of the class fit with the number of rocks I'd accumulated. So this year I decided to stick with 4th grade for the Rock Fish, and alas a new tradition has begun.

Big Thanks to MaryMaking for introducing my to this fabulous book, and inspiring this lesson with her salt dough fish lesson.

First we read, Only One You by Linda Kranz.
On paper, the students drew an oval for a rock, then drew a mouth, eye, fins, and decorations.
Then each student took a turn coming up to my box of rocks and choosing their rock. (I had already painted one side of the rocks with white paint.)
The kids drew on the their rocks with black permanent marker. Of course they wanted to use pencil first, but I didn't let them because of time constraints and I knew that some would make their decorations too small if they used pencil first.
Then students painted their fish with acrylic paints.
The following week, the students went over their black lines again with permanent marker to make the lines really stand out.
Lastly, I sprayed each one with clear gloss sealer.

Thanks NCCS 4th Graders!

Socks for Kinders

2012-02-02T18:41:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Mrs. Knight's Smartest Artists for this lesson idea.
My kinders loved making their matching socks.
After I read, A Pair of Socks to the students, we played a game of "Match the Socks". I held a bag of socks and the students took turns pulling one sock out of the bag. After they pulled their sock, they had to see if its match had already been pulled. If it wasn't they put their sock down next to the other socks already pulled. We really studied what made the socks identical which would mean it was a "match".

Students were given a white paper with 2 sock outlines drawn on it.
They cut, colored, then glued the socks onto background.
Then glued on title.

This is the book recommended by Mrs. Knight:

Collaborative Art Projects

2012-01-24T18:30:00.000-08:00

Wow, I loved getting all the great feedback on my question about selling kids' art. Lots of helpful input!

I especially like the ideas where you have your students do collaborative art, then sell it. I think I can do that........

Any pics/ ideas out there for collaborative artworks?

I'm thinking maybe a school of fish or birds in an outdoor setting, flowers, boats on a lake, animals, etc.?????

If you've had your students create a collaborative artwork where the finished product is small enough to be framed, it would be great to see it:)

Thanks again for sharing! I LOVE Art Teachers!

UPDATE---

Wow, I'm seeing tons of great ideas for collaborative art that is being made and sold at various school fundraisers....... Thanks again for sharing your ideas. If you have more ideas, please comment and I'll add the link to this post:)

Marcia Beckett shares her students' cool printing art here & school of fish and super great stool here. (I love the stool art, no doubt it went to a lucky person at the auction.)

I also found this blog showing many art projects created for the Beverly Cleary School 2009 Auction. Love the Peace Dove, and the origami art.

Have you tried to sell student artwork at your art shows?

2012-01-17T18:48:00.000-08:00

Image by Ian Muttoo via Flickr

Hi There,
It's getting close to our annual art show and many of the same questions/ideas/comments come up every year. Some of them are easily answered, but this one continues to stump me, "Is there a way that the student artwork can be for sale?"
So far my answer has been, "Yes, but...............", and after the "but" are all the practical reasons for making this task very difficult and some of the fears I have regarding students feelings toward their art.
With that said, I am at a private school and funds are needed now more than ever.
Has your school ever sold student artwork at it's art show? Can you share the method used & would you recommend it?

Would love to hear from you, especially those of you who've been teaching art for ages and have been-there, done-that!
Tisha

Cubism Cats

2012-01-05T18:50:00.000-08:00

Big thanks to Marcia Beckett and her "Art is Basic" blog for posting
this Cubist Cat lesson.

My 3rd graders enjoyed it lots!
During the first class, I gave a directed drawing lesson for the cat. After drawing in pencil, students traced w/ black marker.
Then in second lesson students added shapes by making lines with a ruler. Then they colored in the shapes.

Winter Polar Bears

2011-12-30T22:30:00.000-08:00

Saw a great, simple polar bear pic on Artsonia. What I liked about it was the way the artist put green and purple in the background, and put green and purple in the white fur of the bear. When I showed my students my example, with green and purple in the fur too, we talked about how beautiful the fur can look with more than just the color white and how the colors of the sky can be reflecting in the white fur. My students had lots of fun choosing their sky colors and then adding it to the fur.
We used chalk pastels on light blue construction paper.
Steps:
1. Draw bear and facial features with white chalk.
2. Draw white fur using little strokes in the direction that the fur would actually grow.
3. Choose background colors, color background and blend chalk colors w/ finger.
4. Add little bit of background colors to fur in bear.
5. Add more white fur on top of colors, and blend with finger.

Snowy Trees

2011-12-05T16:40:00.000-08:00

"Snowy Trees" Art Project (Re-post from a couple years ago)

Materials needed: black paper ( mine is 9x12"), oval template, white chalk, tissue, white paint (tempera or acrylic), comb

Place template on black paper and use the side of the chalk, pushing from the template off the side onto black paper.

Use tissue to gently smear the chalk.

Lift off template and draw a wavy line for the snow.

Color in the snow.

Make dotted lines for tree trunks.

Draw branches.

Place picture in box to protect the area from paint splatters. (This step can also be done on a large piece of butcher paper.)

Dip comb into paint, and splatter paint by rubbing thumb against the comb as shown in picture at the top.

All Done!!

Plaid & Cats

2011-11-28T22:40:00.000-08:00

My 5th graders did these last month. Love this plaid theme, it would be fun

right now w/ Red&Green plaid too!

I also love the blog where I found it, A Faithful Attempt. I don't see many other art teachers out there teaching K-12 art, so this blog is particularly inspiring for me b/c she does super great lessons with amazing results.

Winter on its way...bring out the penguins

2011-11-19T17:28:00.000-08:00

My first graders made these penguins.

For drawing, I gave each student a cup to trace for the belly, then they drew their own arms, head, face, and feet.

Great Job NCCS 1st graders!!

More Leaves....

2011-11-13T20:12:00.000-08:00

Wow, how nice to do simple art, yet still get wonderful results. Sometimes I get so caught up looking at all the new, exciting art lessons out here in blog-world, that I forget about the tried and true art lessons that bring so much pleasure to children.

Our latest Leaf Rubbings
(Hmmm, been having lots o' probs w/ pics getting turned around on my posts...
never used to happen this much.)

Fall Leaves....

2011-11-08T21:10:00.000-08:00

Big THANKS to Mrs. Art Teacher for sharing this great lesson.
My 5th graders did their version of 2 fall leaves and it took two, 45 min. sessions. The first session was spent practice drawing different style of leaves on scratch paper, then drawing 2 leaves with oil pastels on black. The last part of the lesson was to color leaves and background, add the "magic white" pastel to the background color to make it glow, glue onto black background and write "Fall".

Great Job NCCS 5th Graders!

Fall Art

2011-11-04T17:43:00.000-07:00

Super thanks to Gail from That Artist Woman for this "fall inchies" idea. Ours are 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches sq., so technically not "inchies". We spent 2, 45 min. sessions on this project and it really wasn't enough time. I was rushing the students and they would've loved to have had more time to add more magazine cutout words. Next time I'll do 3 sessions for sure.

Great Job NCCS 4th Graders!!

Darn, meant to post this one before Nov. 1st.....

2011-11-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

Boy, Nov. 1st really snuck up fast this year, I'm already looking at the calendar and seeing that there might not be enough time to do the "Clay Nativity" project I was hoping to do this year....That big Thanksgiving break gets in the way of having art fun--oh well.
Here are the scarecrows completed by 6th graders in October.
First draw the top line of pants in middle of paper.
Make upside down "V" for pants inseam. Then add pant outer legs.
Right angles, up and out on left and right for shirt.
Then add circle head. And hat.
Add suspenders, and face.
Last the squiggly lines for straw neck, hands, feet.
And paint fall leaves all over the paper.....

Awesome scarecrows, NCCS 6ths Graders.

Cute Little Bird

2011-10-29T12:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Pinterest, I found this, thanks to Joy Sikorski:

How cute is he/she!!
My first graders had fun making their little birds.

Tweet-tweet, NCCS 1st Graders!

Mobile Fun in 1st Grade

2011-10-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

First Graders made a class mobile and the pictures don't do it justice. It really is special hanging from the ceiling in the classroom. (I didn't get a pic of that, but you can trust me:)
Materials:
2- 5"x5" pieces of white construction paper for ea. student.
markers, glue
one piece of wire for each student approx. 14" long
one large piece of wire bent into a wobbly circle shape & 2 pieces of wire attached to it to make a hanging hook, for the mobile base
hole punches to share
Steps:
Share some info. about Alexander Calder. Here's the book I used "Getting to Know the World's Great Artists - Alexander Calder".
Demonstrate drawing 2 abstract shapes on each piece of paper then gluing them back sides together, and hole punching, adding the wire in hole, and attaching to mobile base.
Warn students about treating wire VERY carefully, show that it can poke eyes and fingers and all need to be careful. Get students to pinky-swear they'll be careful then set them loose on project.

Way to go NCCS 1st Graders!!

Negative shapes in art

2011-10-12T21:42:00.000-07:00

Oops, where did I see this one? Thinking it was MaryAnn Kohl, but I could be wrong?
Anywho, loved the lesson and the kids did too. (Of course they did, can't say I've ever loved a lesson that the kids didn't like.)
I did this one with both Kinder and 2nd grade, not at the same time though.
After giving brief info. on the difference between positive and negative space in art, students were given 2 strips of blue tape approx. 6" long each.
Step one: kids tore tape and placed it on their paper
Step two: kinder kids drew many lines on their paper using colored markers, 2nd graders painted over tape and paper w/ watercolors.
Step three: peel off the tape. ( I told kids to pretend they were slowly peeling off a band-aid from their best friend's knee and they needed to take it off slowly and carefully so it wouldn't hurt.)

Edible Sculptures

2011-10-07T22:53:00.000-07:00

Thanks Pinterest! Saw this idea on Pinterest and the original artist is Judith G. Klausner. Yes, sculpting Oreo Cookie cream filling on a Friday afternoon works out just great in a high school art class. Students figured out that the toothpick carved much "cleaner" lines when it was kept wet by licking it in between carvings.
(No one minded having to do this often :)

Fairy/Troll Houses

2011-10-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

This lesson was for my friend's daughter's 6th Birthday Party. The theme was "Fairies", so we drew mushroom houses for Fairies (the boys' mushroom houses were for Trolls). Next to the mushroom, was drawn a really BIG flower to give the perspective of a tiny mushroom house.

Drawings were in pastel, watercolor on top.

Frida Kahlo

2011-09-16T06:27:00.000-07:00

This year I decided to do something different on the first day of art class with my high school students. Since the kids' schedules changed a lot the first week of school, I saved the important info. until I knew my class was set. So instead of rules and information I did a directed drawing lesson using pastels.

I consider directed drawing lessons as swimming in the "shallow end" of the pool and figure I need to gain their trust before I send them to the "deep end" later.

(Note- When we do directed drawing lessons, I tell students they're free to make their own changes if they're inspired to do so.)

Right now I've been blessed with an adorable 8th Grade teacher's assistant. She's in my room 3 times/week helping me prep for lessons and putting up artwork, and she's a wonderful artist! She made the sign above:)

Colors & more Colors

2011-09-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

Students creating their own colors

My high school students made their own color wheels using only Blue, Yellow, Red, Black, White.
I was very glad another teacher gave me the direction to follow this order of ingredients when creating tints, shades, and tones:
Tint: Add color to white (adding white to the color wastes more paint)
Shade: Add black to color (adding black to the color wastes more paint)
Tone: Add grey to color

Then they made an attempt to match colors on a paint chip strip. Still, only using primary colors and black & white. I told them they could keep painting over their colors as many times as they wanted before the bell rang. Most kept making corrections until time was up. It was fun to watch.

1st Grade Lines, Shape, Primary Colors

2011-09-10T09:29:00.000-07:00

.Good Golly, I haven't posted since July 15th....hope I remember how to do this.

New year and new schedule for me. For the past seven years I've been bouncing around as an Artist-In-Residence (or Art Docent, different schools used different titles) at many different schools and grades throughout the school year. No two years in a row have been the same. My contracts would often overlap one another, but I made sure to rarely book myself at two schools on the same day. One year I had 6 contracts overlapping for a 2.5 month stretch. That meant juggling the grades and schedules of 6 different schools, going to a different one everyday. It was too much, the art lessons were great, but everything else wasn't. I was putting the milk in the cupboard, losing my keys, wearing one black & one brown sock, etc.
This year I'm at one school with a classroom that I share with a Math teacher and Journalism teacher who both graciously let me takeover the walls and room w/ my art stuff. I teach 2 high school beginning art classes, and 7 elementary classes. It's very part-time, technically only 2.5 hours/day, but you know how that goes. It's 2.5 hours with kids and a whole lotta time with materials, the computer, the copy machine, the bulletin boards, the other teachers for discussing students, and of course my best friend the paper cutter.
Two weeks into my new schedule and all is well:)

Here is the line, shape, and primary colors lesson for 1st graders. Kids practiced on scratch paper first making One Line, with One Shape in it, 3 times on their paper. Some found this quite difficult. Encouragement to use most the paper was necessary too, otherwise there were 3 tiny lines and shapes on big piece of paper.
The assignment was to make 3 lines with a shape, then color with primary colors. Students could darken their black lines if they wished.

Thanks NCCS 1st graders!

Van Gogh Chair - 3D

2011-07-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

Here's Van Gogh's Chair to go with Van Gogh's Sunflower 3D lesson. Again, thanks Anne from Use Your Coloured Pencils for inspiring this idea with her Van Gogh Pop-Up Chair lesson.

Each student was given one black paper and 2 white papers.
First step we did was place 2 whites evenly in center of black paper, then folded up the bottom of the papers all at the same time. (I think the paper was 5x7" and we folded up 3"?)
After that, cut two slits in one white paper on the fold to make pop-up chair seat.
Then we drew and colored chair and background on first white paper, then drew and colored floor and wall on white paper with slits cut for chair.
Then we drew floor and wall on 2nd white paper in area that shows through the back, when white papers are placed on top of one another.
Last, glue white papers onto black background.

Example of front white paper and background white paper. Below is what they look like when placed on top of one another.

The little chairs looked so cute on the book shelves in the classroom:) Thanks bunches Flamson 6th graders!

Just Curious?

2011-07-12T09:43:00.000-07:00

Last year, summer lesson art project.

Cover of The Art Lesson (Paperstar Book)

How many of us teach art lessons/camp

during the summer?

I've taught art lessons in my garage during the past 3 summers, but this summer I was on call for "jury duty" in June, so I couldn't schedule any lessons. I must admit I've enjoyed the time off, but not teaching goes with less income..........oh well........

Just curious if you teach art during the school year, AND summer too? If you do, my hat goes off to you!!

I love kids, but honestly there are times when I revel in not being around other people's children.

Van Gogh Sunflowers- 3D

2011-07-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Thanks Anne from Use Your Coloured Pencils for inspiring this idea with her Van Gogh Pop-Up Chair lesson. We did the chairs too, they were fun!

This was a simple lesson, but it took longer than I thought it would because the kids got into the coloring of their backgrounds.

Each student was given 1 black, 6"x9" paper, and 1 white 5"x7" & 1 white 4"x6" papers.

First they placed 5x7" white in center of black, and folded up the bottom 1/3 of the papers together. (Then put black paper aside til later.)

Next make 2 cuts on fold of 5x7" white paper to make the 3D shelf which will hold the vase of flowers in front of the background.

On smaller sheet of white paper, students draw vase and flowers, then cut and glue onto shelf. (Tell kids to use up whole piece of paper for their vase and flowers, otherwise it'll be too small.)

Last, glue white background onto black background.

4th of July Flag!

2011-06-22T12:16:00.001-07:00

Everybody now! "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandeeeee, a Yaaaaankee Dooodle Do or Die. A real live nephew of my Unnncle Sam, born on the 4th of July...."
Here's a fun printmaking craft for the holiday.
Thanks bunches to Teach Kids Art for sharing this idea for monoprints!
Thanks bunches to my real live neighbor, really named "Sam" who created this awesome "Flag" monoprint below:) Tempera paint on foil. The paint doesn' t have to be too thick.

Draw "backwards" flag with a Q-tip.

After drawing is complete, cover gently with paper. (We used cardstock)

Roll a brayer lightly over the paper, careful not to move the paper around.

Lift paper carefully from both sides at a time.

And KABOOM! Light the fireworks and celebrate 'cause this is one awesome flag!!!

Edible Art.....

2011-06-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

Finally a time to try this edible art lesson & it worked! I was very nervous about knowing how much food coloring to use in the icing, thinking I'd probably have lots of brown icing among the kids. Alas, the fretting wasn't justified. The icing colors were very forgiving and the desired results were easy to achieve.
Also, our grocery store had "mini" vanilla wafers, which delighted me, since I had no idea how many regular size wafers would be in a box. I wanted every kid to have their own color wheel, so that meant 12 cookies per kid. One box of "minis" went a long ways. (FYI-I'd estimate there were approx. 175 mini wafers in one box.)
Each student was given 3 regular size wafers for the primary colors, and 9 minis for the secondary and tertiary colors. They also got 3 blobs of white icing, and 4 drops of blue food coloring in one, 4 drops of red in other, and 4 drops of yellow in last blob.

They created their color wheel, then decorated "graham cracker" canvases with icing from their wheel.

Here's more about edible color wheel lessons if you want some hints from other teachers who've done this with their students.

Students painted these graham crackers using toothpicks.

Below you can see that I gave kids a color wheel, cheat sheet too for this one. (Reinforcement, reinforcement, reinforcement.....)

It was fun!!

Picasso Sculptures

2011-06-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

Found this cool idea on Art Attack. It's filed under 3D Sculptures. Unfortunately the kids used the "dreaded" word "ugly" a lot during this project, but I still think it was worth the effort. There were a few of them that the students wanted to take home, but most ended up in the trash. Tsk, tsk....

Directions: (Acquire LOTS of boxes!)

1. Disfigure large box, then tape corners of other boxes on it for facial features.

2. Add torn paper and watered down glue to entire outside of sculpture, and let dry.

3. Outline cubism areas and paint.

4. Add features w/ paint or markers.

5. Add black lines to emphasize the cubism.

This one is awesome! This student really gets cubism, eh?

Here is a "Picasso Duck" on one side and "Picasso Monkey" on the other. Very cute, and it went home with its lovely creator!

"Picasso Nature"

Thanks No. Co. Christian High School students.

Crusader Critters!

2011-05-30T13:49:00.000-07:00

Awhile back someone posted a lesson their students were working on, based on "Ugly Dolls"..............Wish I noted who it was because I LOVE the idea and had never heard of these cute Ugly Dolls before. (If it was you, let me know. Big Thanks!)
I used the idea and my 7th grade students made their own dolls and took them out around campus and took pics to create picture books starring their dolls. The school mascot is a Crusader, so rather than Ugly Dolls, these cuties are called "Crusader Critters".

*Update: Found my inspirer...HerDabbles, thanks bunches for giving me this idea:)

Thanks North County Christian 7th Grade Crusaders!

Soda Can Triptychs

2011-05-20T19:04:00.000-07:00

Perfect, Semi-Squished, Crushed!

This lesson came from my son's wonderful art teacher named Jeanne Aird. Each day my high school students drew a different version of their soda can to create a modern triptych.

Thanks North County Christian High School art students!

Illuminated Verses

2011-05-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

We talked about Illuminated Lettering and I used information assembled by Amy Bruce, which I found here on TishaLou's Adventures of an Elementary Art Teacher. You can also find great examples of fancy letters on this site too.

Most importantly though, we watched this video about Makoto Fujimura and his recent work of art titled The Four Holy Gospels.

The students were truly inspired and I believe it shows in their art. I feel so lucky to have these beautiful verses up on my art room walls!!

Each student chose their own verse. Wrote it in pencil first, then traced pencil with black sharpie and decorated with colored sharpies. Lastly they added gold acrylic highlights and mounted on black paper. The paper used was donated to the school years ago and looks like parchment. Unfortunately it had a bit of a waxy surface, vellum, so the sharpies bled around a bit, but I think they're still gorgeous:)

Thanks No. Co. Christian students!

Love Sign.....

2011-05-04T11:39:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: This project was done with a group that was all girls. (You probably already figured that out.) We used pencil, then traced in sharpie marker then added watercolor paints.

Step 1: Use the middle of the page as beginning reference point, then draw an "O" slightly above and left of middle.

Step 2: Draw a "V" that starts at the bottom of the "O" then bring its right side all the way up, n with top of "O".

Step 3: Draw the "L" and the "E", then outline the word so it looks like a sign.
Step 4: Brainstorm with kids different pictures and symbols that can be used to decorate letters. We also talked about how to include decorations that don't completely "fit" inside the letters.

Step 5: Draw decorations, then paint with watercolors.

Thanks Anne.....

2011-05-01T17:45:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Anne Farrel from Use Your Coloured Pencils chose Art with Mrs. Smith as one of the blogs she really likes, well I like her blog too!
If you haven't seen this super cool "Van Gogh Chair Pop-Up" project yet, I'm sure you'll want to. (The kids make a 3D chair!)
I'm certain it's only a matter of time before I try this lesson myself. No doubt the kids will love it:)
Thanks Anne!

Don't miss the boat!

2011-04-27T18:16:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-21T11:05:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-04-06T20:55:00.000-07:00

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

Painting Recycled Books

2011-03-30T17:32:00.000-07:00

For this project,we used recycled hardbound books instead of canvas. I started collecting discarded books from my library in the fall, and had enough for all students by March.
Because I wanted the students to have the choice of standing or hanging the finished books on a wall, we started by drilling 2 holes in the back cover and using wire for a hook.

Then a single hole needed to be drilled through the entire book to secure the cover and pages with string, so it wouldn't flop open while hanging on a wall.

Since the books had various covers, we first painted the covers white. Note, the older red books bled into the white paint, so their primed background was pink. The kids got very worried, but found out later that acrylic will cover colors underneath, and they painted over the pink the next day with their subject or design.
After painting the books, students chose 3 colors of embroidery thread and used a needle to put the thread through the holes, one color at a time. Then threads were tied and the book was done.

(Side Note *HELP* - what kind of brushes do your students use with acrylic paints? Ours are horrible, and I'd like to purchase new ones. Any ideas on which ones I should get would be GREATLY appreciated.)

Mona Lisa Mural

2011-03-28T18:50:00.000-07:00

My students' Mona Lisa mural (more info. about creating her here)is up and in the window of our super awesome local art store called The Artery, in Atascadero, CA. I love the atmosphere and ambiance of locally owned shops like this one so much more than big-box-corporate stores with names that start with "M" and end with "s"......don't you?
This is the kind of project that would've been somewhat time consuming to do on my own. Luckily, the owner of the store was my partner in mounting and hanging the mural.

Here's the method we chose for showing the piece, it was quite simple:
Step one: Glue each 9x12" colored paper to 11x14" black mat board.
Step two: Using hot glue guns, attach 11x14" mat boards together with 3x3" mat boards glued to thier corners. (You can see part of the 3x3" colored mat boards in between the corners of the each section of the mural.)

Big thanks to The Artery & NCCS high school art students!

3D Cubes

2011-03-22T19:59:00.000-07:00

This was super fun lesson I found on the School Arts Magazine website, and the lesson is credited to: Explorations in Art, Davis Publications, Grade 2. I used it with grades 4, 5, 6 and the kids enjoyed it a lot.

Each child needs 12 rectangles, 2"x4". (Note, a 12"x18" piece of construction paper will yield exactly 27 of these rectangles. So the cutting doesn't take as long as it seems.)

We decided to decorate our rectangles with black marker before building the cubes, but they can be built plain too. (So, if you decide to decorate, do that before folding:)

Step 1: Fold each rectangle, lengthwise, into a 90 degree angle.
Step 2: *Glue 4 rectangles to form the bottom, then glue 4 rectangles to form the lid.
Step 3: Glue 4 pillars to inside corners of the bottom.
Step 4: Add glue to inside of lid.
Step 5: Place lid on outside tops of pillars.

*Tip- tell students to hold pieces together with their fingers for the count of "5" each time they glue a piece to another piece.

Thanks to San Benito Elementary students!

In like a lion, out like a lamb.

2011-03-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

Big thanks to Teach Kids Art for this lesson idea. The kinders and 1st graders loved the magic of painting on top of white crayon resist and being able to see their darling lambs AFTER the paint is added.
Because I was doing this lesson with a public school, I decided to use a spring poem instead of the religious quote used originally.
Here's the poem I shared with the kids before our project.

In Like A Lion, Out Like A Lamb

by Lorie Hill

March roars in like a lion
So fierce,
The wind so cold,
It seems to pierce.

The month rolls on
And Spring draws near,
And March goes out
Like a lamb so dear.

First we wrote our poem on the white paper with black crayon. (I prepped the paper by drawing 4 faint pencil lines for the words, and we carefully wrote 2 words on each line.)
Second, we drew a curvy black "ground" lines, black legs, white fluffy-cloud bodies, black oval heads, and black tails.
Third, we outlined suns with black crayon, and added some grass.
Fourth, we painted the ground green, then the sky blue.

This student is blind, and his grandma is helping him with this project.

San Gabriel 1st graders!

Light and Dark

2011-02-28T18:19:00.000-08:00

I like this easy lesson for reinforcing color values, light and dark.

Fold square paper in half 4 times to end up with 16 small squares. Then choose 8 different colored crayons, and color two squares with each crayon. One square should be colored dark, and the other square is colored light.....depending on time, we also talk about using colors that are "warm/cool", "complementary", "analogous", etc. You can make this lesson as complicated, or easy as you prefer.

Blogger Shout Outs, Thanks!

2011-02-22T20:10:00.000-08:00

Stylish Blogger award

Big Thanks to Jacquelien "Kids Artists" for a blogger award! This makes me smile......
Here are the requirements to receive graciously and play along-

Link back to the person who awarded you
List 7 things about yourself
Pass the award along to 5 other blogs that I enjoy reading.

Seven things about myself...
My "guest room" in my house is also my "art room", it's a horrendous mess with sample art lessons piled high on every surface in the room including the bed. I clean it before a guest comes, then it's a terrible mess again within 2 weeks.
I prefer to live in the country, but I want to be in big cities when on vacation.
I always have at least 3 students, who I think are better artists than myself. (No matter their age.)
I didn't like the taste of beer until I became pregnant and had my son. Now I love having a beer with tacos, or any Mexican food for that matter.
I'm a cat person, always have been.
I easily get sucked into spending more time than I should looking at other blogs.
I love the way my students become themselves when doing art.

And now I'm going to pass along this award to the 5 blogs that I consider my "go to" sites when cruising bloggerville. Keep in mind that these are at the top for this moment, could be a different list tomorrow...
1. Made by Joel -
This guy gets "Dad of the Day, Month, Year, Century..." His kids are so lucky and so are we for his sharing of his constant cleverness.
2. Mini Matisse - Mrs. Hahn shares great ideas, and I enjoy what appears to be her much greater tech savvy than I have.
3. Kids Artists - Jacquelien (I know you're saying it's rigged, isn't she the one who gave "you" the award?) is awesome in the amount of ideas she posts regularly. I know that I better have time on my hands if I missed looking at her blog for a while because she's going to have a lot of new posts. I like her blog so much, I was looking at it regularly even before I found out how to get in English.
4. Art Projects for Kids - Kathy Barbro is pro! Her past life as a graphic artist serves her well, and it shows all over her blog. Her lessons are varied and she too posts a lot with very interesting and "easy to implement" ideas.
5. And #5 is YOUR blog. If it's about doing arts and crafts with children. I'm sure I've seen it, and I'm sure I've seen something that you've posted which I've copied and tucked away in a file to use in the future. This file is huge, but just keeps on growing.

Mona Lisa Mural

2011-02-16T17:19:00.000-08:00

My students were invited to create a large piece of art for the front window of our local art store called The Artery. The Mona Lisa seemed appropriate, so we made her using the following steps.
1. I divided a 8x10" drawing of Mona Lisa into 24 rectangles and gave each student one of the small rectangles.
2. The students drew a 4x4 grid onto their small rectangle piece of the Mona Lisa drawing, and a 4x4 grid onto their white 9x12" construction paper.
3. By using the grid method, the students drew their piece of the Mona Lisa onto their 9x12" paper, then traced drawing with black marker, erased grid lines, and colored shaped with colored pencils.
4. For interest, students were told to make their drawings "mostly" warm or cool colors.

Each student was given a small rectangle piece after the drawing below was cut into 24 rectangles.

Then the student drew a small 4x4 grid on his/her piece.

Then drew a 4x4 grid on 9x12" paper.

Then enlarged their original piece by drawing on the grid.

And colored.

She looked like this before pieces were mounted on black background and hung in the window.

Soon..........I'll go stand out in the rain and get a picture of the final installation, hopefully. (No idea why I didn't take a pic of it after we hung it up in the window?)

Freezer Paper Stencils

2011-02-08T10:40:00.000-08:00

Decided to reminisce and show a project we did last summer..........t-shirt decorating using freezer paper stencils. Big thanks to I am Momma-Hear me Roar for her great tutorial on making them.
I started by giving kids pictures to trace onto freezer paper, then-
1. cut picture out of freezer paper
2. iron onto shirt
3. paint in stencil using fabric paint
4. let dry
5. peel off freezer paper
6. iron over the paint to set it

Everyone loved their shirt!

Scribble Elephants

2011-02-05T17:25:00.000-08:00

Big thanks to Carla Sondheim and her wonderful "Silly Workshops" for inspiring this lesson.

I braced my students big time before beginning this lesson, and if you try it, I suggest doing the same.
I told them they were going to "try to make a controlled scribble (oxymoron). Now try to make a controlled scribble of an Elephant, without drawing an elephant".
Steps:
1. We pondered that concept together for a moment, then set about just scribbling on scratch paper.
2. We scribbled an "elephant" on scratch paper, beginning with the eye, and not lifting up the pencil. Kids had a hard time not "drawing" and elephant, and just scribbling and elephant..............so that's why step 3 is important.
3. We scribbled more elephants on scratch paper, without looking at the paper. (Yes, now the elephants were finally looking like scribbles and not drawings!)
4. We switch to good paper and sharpies, and scribbled elephant last time.

5. Added an eye to the elephant, then more black to various lines to make them thicker and stand out.

6. Colored in the shapes with colored pencil and markers. (My examples above.)

Thank you Flamson 6th grade artists!

Drawing Beanie Babies!

2011-02-02T20:30:00.000-08:00

Who posted a while back about their students drawing stuffed animals? I don't recall, but thanks for the idea!!!
Before drawing our Beanie Babies we first did some blind contour drawings of them by poking a paper plate on top of our pencils, so we couldn't see the drawing we were doing on the paper. After a few of these practices, I then had the class really study the shadows of the stuffed animals and their goal was to get light and dark shadows in their drawing.
All the drawings turned out close to their models, except for the artistic licensing one of my students decided to take with poor Piglet. (The "Piglet" was cute and intact, but the artist decided to render him a bit differently as you can see below. The drawing was well received at the end of class.)

Thanks Beanie-Baby-Bunches to North Co. Christian High School art students!

Insect Silhouettes

2011-01-29T15:06:00.000-08:00

We made Imaginary Insect Silhouettes, and I have to thank Holly at Decor8 for posting the image (the black bugs on white background artwork that's halfway down the page) that gave me the lesson inspiration.

We also decided to give each bug a crazy name by randomly choosing 3 words from the dictionary then making up a new word using parts of each word. Ex. refrigerator, soil, perspiration = "Persoilerator"
After giving the insects names, we also wrote where they could be found, both geographical location and physical habitat, and what it eats. Ex. "Persoilerator. Found in Asia, lives in fresh water, eats salamander eggs."

The steps for making the bugs is easy and we reviewed art words: positive and negative space, and symmetry.
Steps:
1. Fold black paper, draw half the bug on the fold with chalk or white crayon.
2. Open the paper and visualize the whole bug. Make corrections if you want to, ex. bigger head, legs, etc.
3. Cut and glue onto white background.

4. If I do it again, I would have students write bug name and description on separate piece of paper because I thought their writing took away from the design of the insects.

Well - this pic isn't upside down, until I post it? Re-tried, and it's still upside down....you can still get the gist that this student made a bug family:)

And this one wants to stay sideways in the post, oh well!

Thanks Flamson Middle School 7th and 8th grade GATE students!