Elementary Art Lessons – Page 5 – Art with Mrs Filmore

Self-Portraits with Personal Symbols – by 3rd Grade artists

May 22, 2019 No Comments

This lesson was inspired by the artist Frida Kahlo, who is well known for her self-portrait paintings and often incorporating symbols into her artwork.

This lesson took about 4 (40 minute) art classes to complete.

DAY 1:

Students were introduced to Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, and learned about her interesting life and beautiful artwork!

We looked at a variety of images of her paintings as well as photos of her creating her art. We looked at photos and self-portraits of her and her many unique pets as well! (Students loved seeing her with her pet spider monkey, 4 parrots, a deer, a hawk and other interesting creatures! She loved animals and had a lot of unique pets throughout her life!

Students also learned how she originally wanted to be a doctor and studied medicine, but then was in a terrible trolley accident which left her bedridden in the hospital for a very long time. Her mother gave her paints and drawing supplies to help her pass the time in the hospital and set up a mirror above her bed, which led her to her love of painting, becoming an artist and creating her many self-portraits!

After discussing her use of symbolism in some of her self-portraits, and discussing what a SYMBOL was, students looked at a variety of student examples as well as my teacher examples.

For the lesson, I explained they needed to draw themselves large on the paper vertically, only including their head, neck and shoulders, (like in their school photos!) then to draw 6 or 7 symbols around them that reflect their interests and personality. The symbols should be drawn large and at least as big as their closed fist (making sure the objects are clearly identifiable and easy to outline and color in later on).

I reminded them to make sure the symbols should only be images, no text! They could connect to things that they enjoy doing, things that are important to them, a favorite memory, favorite foods, hobbies, seasons etc. They could however, add words in their shirt if they wanted.

Then, I reviewed with students how to draw the shape of the head and facial details as well as facial detail placement on the head, under the doc camera on 12 x18″ 80# paper. I had facial detail handouts to use and refer to as they drew with a variety of eyes, noses, and mouth images if they wanted to use them, but didn’t have to.

Students then started drawing soon after with pencil, drawing lightly in case they needed to erase.

DAYS 2-4:

Students continued drawing and once all details were added and 6-7 symbols were drawn around them, they outlined all lines with a black sharpie.

Students used crayons (pressing firmly! so the colors would be vibrant! ) to color in. I explained to find a crayon –(or two, overlapping and blending the two colors if needed) that best matched their unique skin color, hair color and eye color. (In previous years, kids used oil pastels to color in, but I wanted to switch it up and try good ol’ crayons for a change (and lets face it….less mess!)

As a final step, students chose one color to color in the background, to make their self-portrait and symbols stand out, filling in the entire paper so no white paper was showing.

Once finished, students filled out a self-assessment on their knowledge of Frida Kahlo and on their own artwork! This sheet will be taped to the back of their drawings before going home.

To my 3rd graders in school, can you tell who’s WHO in these self-portraits by looking at their drawings and symbols?? : ) Take a look below! (obviously, the first two are very evident!) 🙂

Photos of students creating their beautiful masterpieces below student artwork too! (I guess that would kinda give it away now wouldn’t it, haha)

YES, YES….. I know…… I take a TON of photos!!….. 🙂

Thanks for stopping by! Check out below for my recent post on 1st graders “Dream Houses”!

Next up for 3rd grade…….Painted Organic Shapes Collage inspired by artist Henri Matisse!

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RADIAL SYMMETRY PRINTMAKING – 4TH GRADE

May 13, 2019 No Comments

Read below to find out how we created these, see step-by-step pics and watch my YouTube tutorial on this lesson!

Printmaking is one of my favorite things to teach in art. I love it because it always has an element of surprise with the results each time. Getting all the “Ooooh’s” and “Ahhh’s” after printing is so fun and magical and is always fun to see!

4th Graders used their previous knowledge on printmaking from when they were in 3rd grade when creating their “Complementary Creature Prints”. 3rd grade students used markers to print… and this time, as 4th graders… used black tempera paint to print. We used liquid watercolors to create the background before printing a symmetrical radial design on top using black tempera paint.

I love how colorful they are and loved showing students a variation in printmaking. They did a fantastic job!

This lesson took 4 to 5 (40 minute) art classes to complete.

DAY 1 – PAINTING THE RADIAL RAINBOW DESIGN

On the first day of the lesson, we reviewed symmetry (images that are the same on both sides) and students were introduced to radial design (a design that can include any lines, shapes or colors that starts in the center, and radiates outwards in a circular way). I explained we’d be making a symmetrical radial rainbow painting.

After demonstrating, and reviewing the order of the rainbow, students then measured to locate the center of their paper, using a ruler and marked the 6″ spot with pencil. From the center out, they then painted a radial rainbow design on their 12×12″ tagboard with liquid watercolors.

DAY 2 – DRAWING THE RADIAL DESIGN

Students drew curving lines (with some space between each line) on a 6″ square piece of copy paper that had been folded into a triangle, in pencil.

Then drew different lines and/or shapes between each curving line. Making sure not to draw too small or too detailed. Simple is best. They could be a pattern of lines and shapes, but didn’t have to be.

Then students opened the paper up, and traced over their pencil lines with a black sharpie.

Then students flipped up the blank bottom half over the top half that had been traced in sharpie like below.

The drawing can be seen through the paper (as shown on the picture to the right above). Then students traced over their lines with a pencil like below.

TIP: Place a sheet of white paper underneath your work while tracing so the lines can be seen more clearly. OR place the paper on a window to allow light to shine through the backside to see more clearly as you trace. OR- rather than using copy paper folded into a triangle, use tracing paper.

Once ALL the lines have been traced, THEN unfold, by taking the bottom half out like below. You should be able to see the pencil part on top, and the backside of the sharpie part below. Here you can now see the entire design is continuous on both halves of the paper.

From here, take the paper and tape it to a 6″ square cut piece of styrofoam (the printing plate). Use clear tape and only tape it to the top in 2 areas so the paper can open and close like below. Don’t worry about the tape covering your drawing a bit.

Once the drawing is taped onto the printing plate, students started tracing over ALL the lines with a dull colored pencil. (The colored pencil lets you know where you have traced since it leaves a colored line). Press firmly as you trace. This step transfers your drawing onto the printing plate.

It’s a good idea to check to see if its transferring well enough, so flip up the taped down drawing to check how it’s coming along. As long as you can see the lines indentations on your printing plate well enough, you’re good!

Continue tracing with a dull colored pencil until the entire design is traced.

Once that’s done, students flipped over the paper they were tracing. Here you should be able to see the drawing completely transferred onto the printing plate like below.

Next, students traced over their indentations of their design on the styrofoam printing plate with a dull colored pencil. (Tracing again pressing firmly). This step is crucial and creates a nice deep indentation which creates a clear print later on. If it’s not pressed in twice (once with paper over the styrofoam, and again a second time on just the styrofoam the overall print wouldn’t be as clear when time to print.)

From here, students then colored in *some* of their shapes they created within their design with colored pencil. Again pressing firmly! Areas where it is colored in, will reveal more rainbow from the painting created. Students could fill in as much as they wanted or as little as they wanted. This step was the final step before printing, so kids were very anxious to get printing! Teacher example on left, student example on right.

Once shapes were filled in, students flipped over the styrofoam printing plate, and drew an arrow with sharpie pointing to the corner where they started their drawing.

*Technically, to print a symmetrical radial design, the arrow could be drawn pointing in ANY one chosen corner, as long as it’s in just one corner. For a complete circle design like we created, we drew the arrow in the corner where we originally started the curving lines.

HOWEVER, no matter where you place the arrow, this arrow is necessary to know where to position the printing plate on the paper each time you print. The arrow should always point to the center of the paper each time it’s printed. Doing this creates the symmetrical radial design. (More on this below). They also wrote their name and class in sharpie on the back somewhere as well.

Then the paper that was taped on gets taken off and thrown away and students were ready to print!

DAY 3 – PRACTICE PRINTING ON 12X12″ WHITE PAPER FIRST

After a printing demonstration, students created a practice print on white paper before moving onto their final copy (on their rainbow painting).

Students shared plates of black tempera paint and brayers and rolled out their brayer onto the plate of black paint a couple times. Since the paint has a slippery texture, it’s important to THEN roll the brayer onto a sheet of scrap paper to get the paint evenly distributed onto the brayer. This also gets rid of any excess paint before rolling onto the printing plate.

Then the brayer gets rolled onto the printing plate.

Once students evenly coated their printing plate with black tempera paint, they carefully lifted it up and printed onto 12×12″ white 80# paper. It’s important to have the printing plates edges lined up with the papers edges and have the arrow pointing to the center of the paper.

Then students pressed down with the flat of their hands and then used a CLEAN brayer, and rolled over the backside of their printing plate all over to transfer the design to create the first print like below.

Then, lifted it off to repeat those steps 3 more times, rotating the printing plate so the arrow pointed towards the center of their paper each time they printed.

DAY 4 – 5 FINAL STEP! PRINTING ON THE RAINBOW PAINTING!

Students reviewed the printing process and continued to print their design onto their rainbow painting that they painted on day 1!

It was fun… but very messy!!!

This is why we drew a BIG arrow! So you can see it!

If you haven’t see it yet, Here’s my YouTube video tutorial below. I hope you like it!

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Mondrian Inspired Printing- 1st Grade

May 4, 2019 No Comments

Read below student artwork to learn how students created these, what they learned about throughout the process, and see photos of students creating!

When students came into the art room and sat down, without showing them my teacher examples, I asked them, “who can remember and tell me what the primary colors are?” (They all learned about primary colors from the previous lesson when creating secondary colors from mixing primary colors)

I was happy to see everyone’s hands shooting up in the air!

***I feel like I should explain here that Kindergarteners don’t have art class in our district, that’s why I’m teaching them about primary/secondary colors, line, shapes, overlapping etc. etc. to my first grade classes***

Then I showed them my teacher examples and explained we’d be creating artwork inspired by the artist Piet Mondrian.

From there I showed them a brief PowerPoint about his life and artwork.

Students learned he was an artist from the Netherlands, who lived from 1872 to 1944 who was and still is today, a very influential and famous abstract painter. He is known for being one of the pioneers of 20th century abstract art.

One fact about his life was that he was an elementary school teacher before creating art full time. They also learned how he painted more realistically in the beginning, then developed a strong interest in creating more abstracted images, and eventually reduced his artwork to simple geometric elements, focusing on horizontal and vertical lines. He also paired down his color palette using mainly primary colors.

Below are some screenshots of slides taken from my powerpoint I showed students.

I asked students to show me how to draw vertical and horizontal lines with their finger in the air. Then I asked them how many vertical lines there were in his paintings, and how many horizontal lines and what shapes they created.

I asked my students “who can tell me what a shape is?” Students said rectangles, circles, squares…” I said yes those are all examples of shapes you’re right, but do you know what the definition of a shape is? What is a shape? I drew on paper a random line connected end to end that resembled a cloud, and asked “ is this a shape?” They all said yes!

I explained how any lines that connect end to end is a shape.

As I motioned my hands in the air – I asked my first grade students “what happens when 2 horizontal lines connect with 2 vertical lines?” ——they knew right away! They create rectangles and squares!

Students all loved this picture with the lady on the car!

DAY 1 (OF 2)

Students used a small rectangular piece of Styrofoam dipped into black tempera paint, to stamp one end and print horizontal and vertical lines onto 12x 18” paper.

I explained to focus mainly on making squares and rectangles (just like Mondrian) but they could create triangles and other shapes here and there too!

I love the experimentation! Some students played around with the thickness of their lines!

DAY 2

Students colored in their shapes with primary colors using markers.

Some students took more of a Kandinsky approach to stamping their lines. I love the sense of movement these have below!

They really got into it, and some students told me they couldn’t wait to go home and create more!

Check back later this weekend for a new blog post on 4th Grade Radial Printmaking!! And check below to see 4th graders beautiful Dandelion Puffs! Thanks for stopping by!

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Dandelion Puffs – 4th Grade

April 27, 2019 No Comments

Additional artwork below!!

This easy and fun 2 day art lesson focused on the elements of art; Line, Shape, Color and Value. Students also learned about a new watercolor resist technique using rubber cement before painting!

Special shout out to artroombritt.blogspot.com for this lesson idea!

DAY 1

Students observed various drawings of dandelions and reviewed the meaning of composition in artwork, (composition= the way things are laid out or where things are drawn/placed on paper).

Students drew three stems spaced apart a bit coming from one side of a sheet of 9×12″ tagboard with pencil. They could be drawn coming from either side of the paper going towards the middle.

They drew a small circle at the tip of each stem for the dandelions center and then lightly drew a large circle around it to act as a guideline to where their dandelion seed heads would be drawn to, to create a full, fluffy dandelion puff.

Students drew 1 large dandelion and 2 smaller ones on either side of the large one. Then drew a variety of seed heads stemming out from the center of each dandelion. I demonstrated various seed head tips for drawing before students drew on their own papers. I also offered a handout to refer to and observe, if they wanted while drawing.

Then once all three were drawn, they added drifting seed heads blowing away from the dandelion puffs in the wind. These drifting seed heads were drawn traveling in different directions (just like in real life) and not only adds interest, but creates a nice composition with the three dandelions along the opposite side.

Then students went over their stems lines and dandelion puffs lines and drifting seed heads with a black sharpie. After using sharpie they erased any pencil lines that remained.

Once that was done, after class, (when students were no longer in my art room), I brushed on a thick layer of rubber cement where each circular dandelion puff would be, as well as on the drifting seed heads. The rubber cement was a bit stinky and isn’t healthy to breathe in, so I worked next to an open window. This is why I applied the rubber cement and not the students.

The rubber cement was left to dry until the next class. (BTW- This doesn’t take up much rubber cement at all- I used about 3 small jars for 4 classes (roughly 24 students per class).

I used an old tempera brush rather than the rubber cements brush that it comes with. I found it was much easier to spread that way.

DAY 2

Before applying paint to our drawings, we reviewed warm and cool colors.

I had ice cube trays filled with liquid watercolors (one end with warm colors (warm colors=reds, pinks, oranges and yellows) and the other end with cool colors (cool colors= blues, greens and purples).

We also reviewed the wet-on-wet watercolor technique before painting. After demonstrating, students applied water only to 1/2 their paper quickly with a watercolor brush. THEN applied dabs of either just warm colored paint OR just cool colored paint onto the wet areas using one color at a time.

Students noticed how the paint spread outward from where they dabbed little bits of paint over the watered down paper. The water helps spread the paint and it also changes the value of the color making the color lighter and less vibrant (value= the lightness or darkness of a color).

Then once one 1/2 of their paper was painted, they dabbed the painted section with a paper towel while still wet, to help soften the color and spread the paint even more.

Then painted the other 1/2 of their paper with water only and applied paint to that wet area then dabbed off with a paper towel.

Once paintings were dry, the rubber cement was rubbed off, revealing the white dandelion puffs!

Thanks for visiting my blog!! Check back soon for new 1st grade artwork! Next week!

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Birch Tree Landscapes- 2nd Grade

April 21, 2019 4 Comments

This art lesson took about ( 3) 40 minute art classes to complete. Students learned about foreground, middle ground and background and how it creates a sense of space in artwork.

Read more below students artwork to find out how they were created!

DAY 1 – Creating the birch trees

After introducing foreground, middle ground and background to students, showing them multiple student artwork examples from previous years, and demonstrating the steps for day 1 of the lesson, students got to work creating their birch trees. We used 12 x 18″ medium weight tagboard for the paper.

Students drew 1 large tree in the foreground (area closest to the viewer- with objects drawn LARGEST along the bottom of the paper to show this) going all the way to the top of their paper.

Then drew a land line in the middle ground –(area in artwork that is placed in the middle of the paper or canvas, with objects drawn a bit smaller in this area, to show it is a bit further away from the viewer.) I demonstrated to make sure that they jumped over the tree as they drew the middle ground! Then proceeded to draw 2 slightly thinner trees from the middle ground up to the top of their paper.

Then they drew another hill / land line to show grass and trees growing in the background. This line was drawn near the top of the paper to show objects that are the furthest away from the viewer. Objects along this area are drawn the smallest to show they are the furthest things away in the artwork.

Once these areas were drawn with largest to smallest birch trees, going from the bottom of their paper to the top, students used a small piece of recycled currugated cardboard dipped into black paint to create the birch tree bark.

Dipping the currugated side of the cardboard into a small amount of black tempera paint, then scraping from one edge of the tree to the other, students created the black lines within their birch trees. ***It’s important to tap off extra black paint on the paper plate, before scraping, otherwise sometimes too much black paint can create larger black blocks of sections as opposed to black “lines”.

After creating the black lines for the birch bark in each tree, we created 1-2 branches for each tree by tilting the cardboard diagonally along the edges of our trees, and dragged the cardboard downward.

DAY 2 – Creating grass, flowers and painting the landscape

Students drew grass blades within their landscape using 2 different shades of green crayons and yellow. They pressed HARD as they drew the lines– It’s important to press hard not lightly here because the crayon bits would be painted over in the next step (creating a “crayon wax resist” technique with watercolors).

I showed kids how to hold all 3 crayons in one hand, drawing vertical and diagonal lines for the grass. (Doing this makes it easier and faster!) Some students held all 3 ok, and some preferred holding 2 then drawing the rest with the 3rd crayon after.

Then they drew a variety of flowers using crayons within each grassy section.

I love the triangular shaped crayons Crayola makes! They don’t roll off the tables!

Once complete with grass and flowers, students painted the grass and sky with slightly watered down liquid watercolors! Creating a crayon wax resist.

DAY 3- ADDING THE WOODLAND ANIMALS TO THE LANDSCAPE!

Students referred to a variety of “step-by-step” how to draw animals that I had created and stapled together into packets to draw at least 1 animal to add to their landscapes.

Foxes, squirrels, owls, skunks, bunny’s, racoons, deer, and wild horses (which could OF COURSE be made into unicorns!) were in the packet.

Students chose 1-2 animals to draw, and used their observational drawing skills to draw them, color in with colored pencils, cut them out and glue onto their beautiful landscapes!

LOVE her Amelia Earhart outfit! Some 2nd graders were doing book report presentations on this day in their classrooms!

And there you have it!! Beautiful work everybody!!

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2ND GRADE ABSTRACT SELF-PORTRAITS!

March 6, 2019 2 Comments

This fun self-portrait 3 day lesson combines art exploration in abstract art and color theory.

I’ve done this a few years now and it’s definitely one of my favorite lessons for 2nd grade!

More details on how they were created below students artwork!

Students could pose anyway they wanted for their photos— I Love the variety! Some fun and silly, some serious and contemplative, and some just happy and smiling!

DID SOMEONE SAY HEAVY ON THE PHOTOS PLEASE?!!

YOU GOT IT!

DAY 1

On the first day of the lesson, I showed students my examples, students artwork from previous years, as well as just the abstract drawings before paint was applied. I asked students what they thought abstract artwork might be while looking at all the examples. Students noticed that the drawings and paintings were basically lines and shapes! We discussed how abstract art focuses mainly on lines, shapes, and colors and didn’t show a “picture” of anything (a person, a dog, a tree etc.)

Students then looked at a fun, quick slideshow of artwork by various abstract painters (Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Joan Miro, Jackson Pollock and William de Cooning).

Students drew various lines and shapes on 12×18” tagboard in pencil, then went over all the lines with crayons being sure to press super hard (later on we would do a crayon wax-resist). They then filled out a short questionnaire with questions asking about their favorite things and questions about themselves.

DAY 2

On day 2 of the lesson, they painted their drawings with watercolors creating a crayon wax-resist.

While students worked, I took each students photo (which I later printed as a high-contrast black & white photo on printer paper).

DAY 3

In the following art class, students added additional color using NEON oil pastels by drawing shapes and lines on their dry paintings. I LOVE the addition of neon to their paintings!! Adds a nice layer of texture and so much color! This step was a new one this year, and kids and myself are happy of this new edition to the process!

LOOK AT ALL THIS FABULOUS LAYERING OF BRIGHT FUN COLOR!!

They then glued their black and white self-portrait onto their painting as well as their printed sentences that were cut into strips ahead of time.

ET VOILA!

I hope you enjoy these awesome abstract self-portraits as much as I do!!

MORE ON THIS LESSON FROM PREVIOUS YEARS HERE!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR CHECKING OUT MY BLOG! MORE ARTWORK (ALONG WITH SOMETHING EXCITING AND NEW IN THE WORKS FOR 5TH GRADE!!) ALL COMING VERY VERY SOOOOOON!!!!!!

STAY TUUUUNED!!!! : )

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1st Grade “LOVE IS IN THE AIR!”

February 12, 2019 No Comments

LOVE IS IN THE AIR Mixed media art lesson by 1st grade

This fun 3 day lesson incorporates the elements of art; Shape, Color, Line, Form, and Texture! We also review overlapping, and crayon wax resist painting throughout the lesson.

Kids finished them up JUST in time for Valentine’s Day!

DAY 1: CREATE WARM TISSUE BACKGROUND

Students glued pre-cut warm colored tissue paper onto a sheet of 12×18″ tagboard using watered down glue. They glued an area of the paper first, then tissue, one piece at a time, then applied another thin layer of glue on top of each piece. This ensured the tissue laid flat and stuck to the paper.

Students were encouraged to overlap as they glued pieces, and to fill up the entire paper.

Day 1- gluing tissue for the sky background — Let me tell you… creating art with tissue paper and glue are probably my LEAST favorite art materials to work with! So flippin MESSY, and seems to get EVERYWHERE!!!
BUT… in the end, I think the beautiful artwork created was well worth the mess and clean up

DAY 2 – CONTINUE GLUING TISSUE / CREATE PLANE

Students continued gluing tissue until their paper was filled in entirely. Then they each received a sheet of 8.5 x 11″ medium weight tagboard with a pre-printed outline of a plane. (I drew the plane ahead of time and photocopied them)

Students drew a variety of lines and/or shapes using crayon, pressing hard inside their plane, leaving a bit of white background showing.

Once colored to their liking, they painted over the entire plane using watercolors, creating a crayon-wax resist. Students could paint with whatever colors they wanted. Planes were set aside to dry along with their tissue backgrounds until the next class.

DAY 2: CREATING THE PLANE WITH CRAYON WAX-RESIST

DAY 3: ADD PLANE AND HEART!

Students cut out their planes, and glued using a glue stick to their tissue paper backgrounds. Then glued on the cotton batting for the planes smoke in the shape of a heart!

I demonstrated how to take SMALL chunks from the bag, and pull with their fingers creating a thinner line of “smoke” before gluing into place. This was the trickiest step! Kiddos did great!!

DAY 3: ATTACH PLANE AND COTTON BATTING FOR THE HEART! ONE OF MY FAVORITE PICS OF THE PROCESS!!!

KIDS LOOOOOVED FEELING THE TEXTURE OF THE COTTON!

BE SURE TO CHECK BACK SOON FOR 2ND GRADERS “ABSTRACT SELF-PORTRAITS” AAAAANNNNNNDDDD 5TH GRADE “OP ART“

THANK YOU FOR VISITING TODAY!!!!

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MY NEW ART ROOM AND MUCH MUCH MORE! …

January 24, 2019 No Comments

https://youtu.be/xiP_H_8B7fY

I found out late summer that I was no longer going to have to teach art off a cart, and I’d have my very own art room! Of course, as you can imagine I was thrilled with this exciting news!! I had been teaching from a cart, rolling it with art supplies for each class, down the hallways to each classroom for 4 years in the district I teach now. So since Sept. 2014!

I couldn’t wait to set up my new space and decorate all the walls! The room is awesome and has huge windows all along one wall, a sink (my other classroom at the other school I teach at doesn’t have a sink) and is pretty spacious but still cozy!

I took the video above in early December before the holidays, so that’s why you’re hearing “Christmas Time is Here” by the Vince Guaraldi Trio in the background.

I bought all my twinkly curtain lights from Amazon, which are not just up for the holidays but I am keeping them up all year round. I think it adds a nice warm, cozy, inviting (and soothing) environment.

I was so excited to show my students once I put them all up and they looved them! I had kids work with only those lights on in the room for the majority of the holiday season. With all the windows, it’s still plenty of light to be able to see while creating art!

Here are some pics of what the room looked like BEFORE below!

Here are some AFTER pics!

So here’s a re-cap snippet of SOME of the things we’ve been working on in the art room since September!

3rd-5th Monochromatic Mini Self-Portraits

Students at Amvet in 4th and 5th grade drew mini monochromatic self-portraits. Each class had their own designated color of the rainbow. At this school, I have (3) 4th grade classes and (3) 5th grade classes. At Roosevelt I had 3rd, 4th and 5th create them, since there are only 2 classes per grade level.

Students learned a variety of ways to draw different expressions and what monochromatic means. They learned how they can achieve a monochromatic look by pressing hard or light with their colored pencil to achieve various values of one color, and can create a variety of values by using various shades of a colored pencil.

Students in 1st and 2nd grade drew circles creating an abstract collaborative mural inspired by the artist Wassily Kandinsky (BELOW). They colored using a variety of colorful oil pastels, then painted around the circles filling in the remaining space of the square paper with watercolors. Once complete, I assembled them on a large sheet of black paper and hot glued into place.

1st and 2nd grade completed a Kandinsky inspired collaborative mural

Below are some art lessons we did in order by grade level so far. (These are not all of the lessons however we have finished up to this point).

1st Grade:

Hot Air Balloon Collage

To view Hot Air Balloon Collages from previous years – click on 1st Grade Art Lessons under the main menu and scroll down! Or click HERE.

Mixed-Media Alphabet Soup

This photo is from my hallway display from last year. Art will be hung up once the spoons and plastic letters are hot glued into place!! One of my favorite lessons for 1st grade!

Here are some cute pics of students working on their soups!

First graders creating their background plaid tablecloths for their alphabet soup!

To view additional mixed-media alphabet soup art from previous years, learn how it was made and what the learning goals are for the lesson, check out the 1st grade art lessons page HERE and scroll down!

2nd Grade:

Birds Eye-View Snowman Collage

To learn more about how we created these adorable snow people and what the learning goals are for the lesson, click HERE and scroll down!

Catching Snowflakes

Click HERE and scroll down to check out previous years “Catching Snowflakes” and to learn more about this lesson!

3rd Grade:

Day of the Dead Skulls

To learn more about this lesson and see additional Dia De Los Muertos Skulls – click HERE and scroll down!

3D WINTER MUGS

To learn more about this lesson and see additional mugs (using paint rather than markers) click HERE and scroll down.

4th GRADE:

Mixed Media Donuts

To view additional mixed media donuts by 4th grade, and learn how we created them, click HERE and scroll down. To view my YouTube video tutorial click HERE and select the video!

5th Grade

Falling For Foreshortening

To view additional Falling For Foreshortening artwork by 5th grade and learn how they created them, click HERE and scroll down!

Holiday Lights

Students at Roosevelt were able to complete this lesson before the holidays but unfortunately, due to time constraints classes at Amvet didn’t have time to create these. Next year I will start this lesson earlier and try to make sure everyone in 5th has a chance to do this fun lesson for the holidays!

This wonderful lesson was inspired by the amazing art teacher artwithmrsnguyen

To view additional Holiday Lights and to learn how these were created -click HERE and scroll down to the lesson!

Here are some fun pics of students creating them! Enjoy!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I’ll be posting more artwork very VERY soon!!

I promise!!!!

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GRID DRAWINGS inspired by Chuck Close! -5th GRADE

August 3, 2018 No Comments

Hello again everybody! Sorry for the long hiatus….. I meant to post this over a month ago when school was just out, but things have been pretty busy around here (and by busy I mean basically just totally chillin out and relaxing focusing on family, friends and my health—-but c’mon, can ya blame me?! It is summer break after all!

But back to the art lesson I’m posting about—-Grid drawings inspired by the amazing artist Chuck Close!

This was my last art lesson of the school year for 5^th grade. I have taught this lesson now for 5 years (4 years at the schools I’m teaching in now, and 1 year within another district). I think it’s one of the more challenging lessons for 5^th grade.

The images I print out aren’t super easy and although students have a choice on what image they want to draw, the lesson requires a lot of attention to detail and focus. Usually it takes students about 6 (sometimes even 7 (40 minute) classes to complete.

So with that in mind, I have NO IDEA why I planned on teaching it with only about 4 art classes left in the school year…. (you’d think by now I’d of realized doing so would mean kids probably wouldn’t finish. Well… that is what happened. BUT—art isn’t always about the final product. It’s about the PROCESS. Learning about new techniques, learning about different artists, creative decision-making, discovering things about yourself, learning from mistakes and persevering through challenges.

Many students did finish, and I’d say most were probably ½ way finished. I DID however, have them draw on WAY smaller paper. In previous years kids drew on 9×12” or 8×10”, but this time round, I had them draw on 5×7” to help speed things up a bit, while still keeping the same learning goals in mind.

Students worked so hard and I’m truly impressed with their beautiful drawings! Even if unfinished.

Ok, sorry….that was a lot of text to read… so here’s the artwork!! 🙂

Students selected one black and white photo of an animal. They could choose from about 15 different pictures.

I looked for images on Google that had a variety of value changes, were challenging enough in that they had some nice details, but tried to find ones with a simple background. Then I printed each of them as a 5×7” on 8.5” x11” printer paper.

When making a selection, I laid out each image in stacks of about 10 along a long table, then called groups of kids up (5 or 6 kids at a time) to make a choice.

Students used a 1” strip of cardboard to create their grids. I’ve had them use actual rulers before, but it proved to be too tricky getting accurate measurements and straight lines.

They drew a grid on their chosen black and white animal picture, then numbered each square, then drew the same exact grid on a piece of 5×7” drawing paper and numbered that grid as well.

Here’s some pics of students doing just that!

I explained to draw very lightly on the white drawing paper (so later on the grid lines and numbers wouldn’t show as much) but they could draw pressing much harder on their black and white animal pic in order to see the grid lines and numbers better.

To help students draw with a lighter touch, I showed them how to hold the pencil so their fingers gripped near the eraser rather than towards the pencils tip. The closer your fingers are towards the tip of the pencil, the more likely it is you will draw darker lines.

Once their grids were drawn and numbered, they drew just the contour lines of their animal, while observing just one box at a time. Like so…..

Once all the contour lines are complete, we reviewed what VALUE meant and after doing a demo under the doc camera, they started shading using various drawing pencils. I had them use just 2B, 3B, 4B and 6B.

I also had small handouts to refer to on a value scale with references on what pencil would probably work best for each value within their picture.

We also reviewed how you can change the value of the pencil marks by simply pressing harder or lighter as well.

Students also learned how to use a TORTILLION or aka a blending stump to soften/blur lines and create lighter values.

You can see the tortillion (not tortilla! Tortillion I joked with the kids) on this students picture of a giraffe.

Kids were amazed at how much detail they acheived and how accurate they could draw what they were seeing—-just by simply slowing down, and really paying attention to all the little details and nuances within each and every square!!

To view a great video and interview with Chuck Close himself– click on the video below!!

And another if you like!….

To view additional Grid drawings by my 5th graders in the past—- go HERE and then scroll down until you see it! This is also where you can view the learning goals of my lesson.

Thanks for stopping by!! I will be posting again within the next week or so—so Stay Tuned!! 🙂

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2nd Grade “Thinking of Summer Self-Portraits” and 1st Grade “Dream Houses”

June 28, 2018 No Comments

2ND GRADE- “THINKING OF SUMMER” SELF-PORTRAITS!

Every year, near the end of the school year, I’ve had my students do this quick, fun lesson!

We draw just a portion of our heads large along the bottom of a 12×18″ 80# sheet of drawing paper. I demonstrate on how to draw a “rainbow line” along the bottom and then add eyes and eyebrows.

We talk about different facial expressions and how our eyebrows go up when we get excited!

We went around the room and shared a variety of ideas! They then drew images on what things they wanted to do over summer break within a large thought bubble. They could incorporate words too, but I told them to focus more on drawing than writing.

I demonstrated on how to draw a few ideas (one being a pair of sunglasses that looked three-dimensional, which kids loved drawing and did a fantastic job!)

Once complete in pencil, they outline all lines with a black sharpie then colored and painted!

One year I had students create a cut out version of themselves. After drawing, they cut out the entire head and neck and then cut the top portion of their heads off and glued it onto separate 12×18″ paper hinged open with the thoughts/images coming out.

AND NOW FOR SOME CUTE PICS OF KIDS CREATING THEIR ART! ….

I LOVED her t-shirt so much I had to take a pic!

1ST GRADE- “DREAM HOUSES”

On the first day of this lesson, I read the book “The Big Orange Splot” by Daniel Pinkwater.

I LOVE this book!! If you haven’t read it to your child, or students you should!

It’s about a man, Mr. Plumbean, who paints his house to “look like all his dreams”. In the beginning of the story, a big orange splot of paint falls on his house. Instead of getting rid of it, he adds to the splot, and paints his home with a ton of bright, vivid colors, and pictures of fun, random things. His neighbors get upset at him and want all the houses to look the same. Neighbors one by one, try to have a talk with him to change it back, but…. instead… each neighbor gets inspired, and ends up changing all their houses to look like their own dreams!

After reading the story, we discussed how it’s important to be yourself and to not be afraid to stand out. I showed students examples of previous 1st graders dream home drawings, as well as a few of my own, then kids got started!

I had no rules for this art lesson except to add a pattern somewhere within their work! Kids could draw whatever kind of house they wanted! It didn’t have to be rectangular or square like most houses—it could be any shape! It could be a slice of cake, a puppy, a cookie, a robot, a spaceship, a boat, a unicorn, slides coming from the roof to a pool in the yard….you get the idea!

I just wish I took more photos of their artwork….It was on their last art class that they finished them up and time just escaped me!!

Below these kids pics, I posted some other dream houses created by my 1st graders from last year to make up for that!