Red Cow? It must be Gauguin!

How wonderful to share with students Gauguin's colorful art where cows can be red, rivers can be pink, and trees many shades of blue.
"Art is either plagiarism or revolution." Paul Gauguin - French, 1848-1903

Now it's your turn to paint some landscapes using bright, unrealistic colors, just like Gauguin. San Benito Elementary Artists

What to do with a Pink Button

Imagine a whole barnyard of button animals!
Thanks brandi_mr @ flickr.

Art Lesson, Starry Night

Vincent Van Gogh - Dutch, 1853-1890

Starry Night, 1889

Van Gogh's Starry Night is a perennial favorite.

Kids love the movement he so expertly realized in his sky and trees.

Sometimes short cuts let us squeeze in a very small art lesson, when little time is available. Here's a simple version for creating a Starry Night Sky.

Create a master of two swirls, moon with circle, and some various sized circles for the stars. Give each student a copy.

Kids color in the swirls, moon, and glowing stars.

Color a another piece of white paper with lots and lots of colored little lines to represent the sky background. Then cut and glue swirls, moon, and stars on the background.

Kermit King Elementary Artists

Artist Quote

David

"The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection." Michelangelo, Italian 1475-1564

Snowy Trees

"Snowy Trees" Art Project

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!!

Kids Public Art

"Mullholand Drive: The Road to the Studio, 1980"

David Hockney, United Kingdom, 1937-

And here's something I found while travelling....

Fifth Grade mural project based on Hockney's original painting above.

Close-up of 12" x 12" tiles

(One tree, 4 different artists)

The whole beautiful mural hangs in the San Diego Airport!!

Great job Kumeyaay Elementary 5th Graders!!

ART with Mrs. Smith DVD Art

Mrs. Mosunich's 5th grade students watched the Bonus Features on "ART with Mrs. Smith-Painting a Butterfly" dvd, www.artwithmrssmith.com/store.html and created these awesome dragonfly works of art. Super-duper-dragonflies-kids!!

Thanks kid for "Really" listening

Kids love to express their appreciation and I often receive notes and cards from them at the end of my series of lessons. One of my favorites was from a 2nd grade boy.

On his card, he drew a picture of a lady in front of an art covered chalkboard. Then he drew a large bubble coming from the lady's mouth which said, "OH DRAT!" Yes, this was in fact something he remembered me saying SIX weeks earlier when I had realized that I left a box of supplies in the school office. Apparently, those words had left an impression.....hmmmm, wonder if he recalled any of the art information I shared also?

Kids Art, Matisse

Henri Matisse, French 1869-1954, "Interior with Egyptian Curtain, 1948"

This painting can be used as inspiration for students studying different countries and cultures. When Flamson 6th graders were studying India, we learned about the Indian "paisely" pattern, then students created their own version of Matisse's interior painting with a "Paisely Curtain". This lesson could be changed to whatever subject your students are studying. i.e. Interior with Colonial Period Curtain, Interior with African Curtain, Interior with Rainforest Animals Curtain, Interior with Spring Curtain, Interior with Winter Curtain, Interior with Multiplication Curtain,......the list is endless. Students benefit from the comfort of having the Matisse sample to copy, yet relish the freedom of creating their own designs on the curtain.

Flamson Middle School Artists, 6th Grade, Mrs. Moses

Art Teaching Tip

Book Covers make wonderful "art mats" to protect desks and tables during art lessons. (Thank you Mrs. Brown.)
Your school probably receives free book covers from various vendors at the beginning of each school year. (Hint, if you can't find 'em, check your library.) They last forever, but be forewarned, kids will beg you to keep them for their own. Then after they've been used often, adults will want them too because they end up looking like works of art.

(Back of mats)(Front of mats)

These art mats have been used this year by kids at 5 different schools. That's more than 1,000 students!!

Kids Art

Georgia O'Keeffe

American Artist 1886-1987

Oriental Poppies, 1928

Georgia O'Keeffe inspired flowers

Monterey Road Elementary Artists

Kids Art

Georgia Brown Elementary "Art Show"

School art shows are a ton of work to accomplish, but hugely appreciated by parents, kids, and staff! (They can even be fundraisers too.)

Famous Artist

"I know that to paint the sea really well, you need to look at it every hour of every day in the same place so that you can understand its ways in that particular spot and that is why I am working on the same motifs over and over again, four or six times even."

Claude Monet
French 1840-1926



The Japanese Footbridge, 1899
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.