Favorite Quote Painting

I just finished a project I have been painting on and off all summer. It's a quote you may have seen before:

"The 'earth' without 'art' is just 'eh'"

First I started with an old canvas from a friend that I painted over with 2 coats of gesso.

Next I drew the letters with pencil

Then I began painting 

After that I added the last two colors to brighten it up. 

Here it is, finished in all it's glory:

I can't wait to hang it up at school!!

A work in progress: Classroom 1

The beginning of a new school year always brings on lots of new opportunities for changing up my two art rooms. This year I decided to take before, during, and after pictures. Since this is a work in progress I just have the "before" and "during" part right now.

Here is the top of my white board after I redid it:

 It says "you have the power to create super artwork" because our theme is super heroes.

There's lots more work to be done!!

getting ready for a new school year!

The other day my friend and I worked on our hallway and for the first time ever we got it all done in one day!! We did things a little simpler this time to follow the new fire code rules. I'm very happy with the way it turned out and I don't think we've been done this early before. Our theme this year is world travel.

I can't wait to get some artwork up there!

This is my friends's wall:

Now it's time to do the other school with our superhero theme. This year both themes are different so I get the chance to change things up.

The only thing I have done at the other school so far is hang up my superman clock.

I guess it's TIME I go over there :)

Penguin in the Summer

I created "penguin in the summer" as an end of the year project to go along with these penguin drawing instructions I found online: http://makingartfun.com/htm/f-maf-printit/learn-to-draw-cartoon-penguin.htm

The goal of the penguin drawing exercise is to have a unique drawing, and for students to be creative with the details of the penguin. Last year I had the students draw a summer background, like the penguin went on summer vacation. The only rule is that they had to incorporate the penguin (have to draw it step by step, no tracing) and the background has to be a vacation spot.

This year I decided to change it up and turn it into a collage.

Step 1: students draw the penguin by following the instructions. Students can draw many penguins or just one. If they are tiny, students must draw more than one. I found a great YouTube video about penguins that I showed them on day 1 of this project.

Step 2: students draw anything else they want in the collage such as beach ball, surf board, etc. All of these little drawings get outlined, colored, and cut out.

Step 3: students made the beach by collaging the dark blue contraction paper for water, and manila paper for sand, on top of the light sky blue paper. Then the little drawings are glued on top.

There's a Monster in My Room!!

There's actually lots of monsters in my room! They are made by my 3rd graders. Third grade students learned about geometric and organic shapes, and different textures when making these monster drawings. First, they used their imaginations to come up with an original monster drawing. They had to use both geometric and organic shapes. Then we talked about different textures their monsters could have- bumpy, scaly, furry, spikey, etc- and they drew the texture as a shape. Next, they outlined with black Sharpie, colored with bright construction paper crayons, and cut it out. The last and best step is when they were done cutting, they glued the monster drawing to a brown paper for the door to their room and on the reverse side they wrote a story about the monster!

Love these every time! Check it out:

Finished sculptures

6th grade has finally finished their paper mâché Egyptian Canopic Jar sculptures. I love the variety of colors that were achieved by mixing their paint colors. I think the hieroglyphics turned out pretty good too.

Clay Flower Collage

5th graders learned about Georgia O'Keefe when making these clay flowers. The kids really liked Georgia O'Keefe's work, especially when they saw the cow skulls. Right now I'm calling it a collage because we are attaching them to the black paper. My students used white Crayola Model Magic and colored it with markers to make it change colors. Then they created the different pieces of the flowers. When they had all of the pieces of the flower, they would build them on the black paper and press down to make it stick. They had to have a minimum of 3 flowers and they had to be placed at the top of the page to leave room for the vase. I told them they could make the flowers all the same, or they could be all different. At the end they drew a vase on pieces of leftover cardboard I've had in the closet for years, and glued it to the bottom.



 So far, I'm really liking the results on these.

Coke Bottle Fish

 This project is always a favorite of mine and my students! We recycled coke bottles to make these fish! First we discussed all the kinds of lines, and students drew patterns on the outside with Sharpies. Next, I cut off the end of the bottles so the students could paint the inside with neon acrylic paint. Finally, they stuck on eye stickers and I helped them cut the tail and staple it. Clear string was strung through the mouth of the fish and out the tail to tie in a knot so the students can hang it up.

Art Show!!

I love art shows. Everyone is all smiles- the parents, the students, and the teachers! I have lots more pics to upload but for right now here is me with both panels:

I'm so proud of my students! We had a great turnout and I very much enjoy getting to visit with the students and their parents. 

It's Sculpture City in my classrooms!

Right now almost every grade level is working on a sculpture.

6th grade is making Egyptian canopic jars 

4th grade is making Wayne Thiebaud inspired cupcakes out of Model Magic. All of these in the pictures are completed.

And 3rd grade is making fish out of recycled coke bottles

Let the sculpture making continue!

Winter Portraits!

It is technically still winter, even though it's March and we are on Spring Break. Our temps really haven't warmed up yet but I thought posting this project would be a great farewell to winter :)

I saw this project on Pinterest and knew I had to try it out. These were done on 12"x18" paper, and colored with markers. Students had the option of drawing scarves, or no scarves, gloves, or mittens. All students had their cup or mug of spmething warm to drink like hot chocolate. We discussed different lines, patterns, textures, and colors for their winter clothing.

All of them are by my 5th graders. :)