This will be my last winter art post for the season (Woo-Hoo! that’s a good thing!) Spring is just around the corner -thank god!! I’ll be posting a collection of “Springtime Art lessons” in a few days—so be on the look out for that! But in the meantime, I wanted to share some cardinals that recently wrapped up last week, and some fun superhero masks by my 2nd graders! —-I also have 4 NEW PDF hand drawn mask templates you can download and print out now in my TpT store too (more on that below).

One out of my (5) 4th grade classes finished painting their cardinals…the rest will finish up this coming week, and I’ll add more here after (as well as within the “4th grade art lessons” page).

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

DAY 1: I demonstrated under the doc camera how to draw the cardinals on a sheet of 9×12” 80# white drawing paper. Students drew along with me as I drew starting with the cardinal, then the branch and snow, and then the tail feathers.
Once all of that was drawn, students added texture on the branch and then went over all their lines in sharpie.

DAY 2:

On day 2, I showed students how to color in their bird, branch and snow. We used colored pencils to color in, and I explained to press down hard while coloring in their bird red to make the color pop. For coloring in around the eye, I explained to press a little lighter, so the black wouldn’t completely blend in with the detail of the eye. They colored the beak orange, feet black, and branch with colored pencils and then added just a little bit of blue along the bottom of their snow along the branch. I explained to press hard with a blue colored pencil right where the snow meets the branch, and then gradually get lighter and lighter as you move up the snow, only to about 1/2 way. For some reason it’s not really showing in the photo in the artwork above.

DAY 3: On day 3, I demonstrated how to add shading using a black colored pencil within the bird, making sure to press harder along the edges and gradually pressing lighter and lighter, as it moves away from the edges. I also explained it’s important to overlap your lines as you do that step.

Then we outlined the bird, branch and snow with a black crayon (while pressing down hard). Doing this step helps create a barrier so that the watercolor paint won’t seep into those areas. Having pointier crayon tips (or sharpening them beforehand with a crayon sharpener) is helpful for this step as well.
Then we added some snow falling using a white crayon —making sure to press really hard as well. I reminded students even though you can’t see white on white paper – sometimes the way you hold your paper (if you tilt it just right) you can see the shiny parts from where you drew snow from the wax of the crayon on your paper. We talked about how this eventually would create a crayon-wax resist technique, (watercolors and wax don’t mix, and the paint won’t cover up the areas where you draw with crayon) when we paint the sky blue in the following art class.

DAY 4: Students used turquoise liquid watercolors (that was watered down a little) to paint their sky, revealing their snowflakes on the final day of the lesson. I like using Sax brand liquid watercolors for this lesson.

LEARNING GOALS: 

Students can create, identify and define a crayon wax-resist painting technique

Students can create value changes in their bird with shading 

Students can define the element of art “value”

Students can create, identify and define texture within their artwork 

I’ll add more student artwork here later this week once they’ve finished!

2nd Grade Superhero Masks

Link to my TpT store to download a PDF of 4 different hand drawn masks is below – $3.99 for all 4 masks

This lesson is a fun project for ALL ages! 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/art-with-mrs-filmore

This was a super fun one day lesson!! (40 minute class) *Some classes needed a day 2 to complete 

I drew four different mask shapes, each on a sheet of 9 x 12” super heavy weight tag board paper and then ran each one through the copy machine. I recommend printing these out on “super heavyweight tagboard” (or thick cardstock)

Students could design their mask anyway they wanted with pencil first and then colored in with markers, crayons or colored pencils. Once finished they cut out their mask and then folded a little bit where the eyes were and then cut a tiny slice so they could get their scissors inside and then cut out the eyes. 

Some students even decided to draw above the mask line to add other details as seen in the photos above like rabbit ears and additional details above their mask design. They were extremely creative!

To fit their mask to their face I had straps that I cut from the same super heavy weight tag board paper into 9“ x 2“ strips. Each mask got 2 strips. I helped them staple each strip end to each side of their mask first, then put the mask against their face to measure out where the straps should meet/ overlap and then stapled at that area, so it would fit snug on their head, but be able to come off easily at the same time.

Students LOOVED this fun and engaging lesson and wore them immediately after they were finished being sized. I had students asking me in the hall “Are we making masks tomorrow in Art?!!” They heard from their friends that’s what they did in art and were SO excited to make one too!

This lesson coincided with reading the book “Almost Super” within their classroom, at one of my schools. 

After students finish their masks, you could have students draw their own superheroes too, or have them write about what their superhero name would be, what powers they have, what greater good are they fighting for, where does their superhero live etc. to connect to literacy!

LEARNING GOALS 

• Students continue to enhance their cutting skills 
• Students can use a variety of line, shape, color, texture, and pattern to design their own unique mask 
• Students understand that art can connect/ relate with other subjects 

Link to my TpT store to download a PDF of 4 different hand drawn masks is below – $3.99 for all 4 masks

This lesson can be a fun project for ALL ages!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/art-with-mrs-filmore

——-Next, I’ll be adding a new blog post on a collection of various springtime art lessons, as well as 5th graders “Blackout Poetry” with their blackout poetry artwork!

——I also just added more photos to my “about me /Q+A” page (under my drop down menu on the main page at the top) and a funny little story (that I just remembered) involving making music video’s with a cam corder, when I was a teenager from back in the 90’s

——Would you be interested in a YouTube video that shows how to create my “April Showers brings May Flowers” 2nd grade art lesson below? If so, please let me know by replying “YES” in the form below!
I can post my hand drawn umbrella PDF template on TpT for FREE to use for the lesson too!

Also— please let me know any other art video tutorial you’d like me to make! You can fill out the form below. The forms will not get published by the way— it’s for my eyes only. I’d love to hear from you -Thank you!

****UPDATE: Unfortunately I had to delete the forms because I’ve been getting hit with 100’s of responses a day from somebody (cyber bully??) who is only submitting random responses (basically spamming / blog spam/ web bot)

And last but not least—if you’d like to check out my art lessons on Instagram—follow along on my Instagram account at @mammalovespeaches

Thank you so much for visiting my website today!❤️ Hope you’re having a great weekend (or weekday, depending on when you’re reading this 🙂