self-portrait – Art with Mrs Filmore

Mixed Media Watercolor Self-Portraits – 5th Grade

May 30, 2026 No Comments

***UPDATE: I just added my “Summertime Art Lessons” page under the main menu! I’ll be adding a dedicated “Fall Art Lessons” and “Winter Art Lessons” page soon as well! I’ll also be adding more 5th grade “Mixed Media Watercolor Self-Portraits” below and under 5th grade on Tuesday 6/9/26!

This 3 day art lesson is inspired by the artist Cecilia Paredes. Besides my “Winter Northern Lights” and “1 Point Perspective Cityscapes”, this is definitely one of my top 3 favorite art lessons to teach 5th grade! I LOVE them so much and my students are really enjoying the process and are thrilled with their work as well! Only 2 (of my 4) 5th grade classes have finished so far. I’ll be adding more once finished!

I love his expression in the one above and it has a comic book illustration quality to it, doesn’t it?!

This lesson takes 3 (40 min.) art classes to finish— although some students finished up on day 2

DAY 1

I showed students a few of my examples first and then introduced them to Cecilia Paredes’ artwork— Below are screenshots of my Google slides.

Below are my teacher examples

We reviewed what mixed media meant, then I explained that we’d be creating 2 abstract paintings using watercolors (and oil pastels if they wanted) for their background. They would later on choose only one of their paintings for their finished artwork. I then demonstrated a variety of ways they could paint. On their (2) 9×12” 80# white papers they could do any of the following:

Paint random lines, shapes and colors with watercolors

Splatter paint only

Splatter paint and then scrape the paint while still wet

Draw with oil pastels first, then splatter paint on top and then scrape

For scraping, I had kids use the side of a plastic texture rubbing plate. Students were given one sheet of 9×12” to start, and when the first sheet was complete, they put it in the drying rack and then got a 2nd sheet. I encouraged kids to experiment, and to explore 2 different methods to create their background paintings.

My students had so much fun and thought it was so cool when they saw their results from scraping their paintings!

There was definitely some horsing around in art class that day! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist)

While kids painted, I went around and took each students photo. Kids could pose any way that they wanted, but I shot from their chest up so it would be more close-up.

Later on, I edited their color photos to black and white, and then printed them out on regular 8.5” x 11” copy/printer paper at home. Then I slid their pictures in a plastic sheet protector (see pic below).

DAY 2

On day 2, I brought in all their photos inside the sheet protectors and demonstrated under the document camera how to trace over all the contour lines using a black fine point sharpie.

I showed them that if you make a mistake anywhere with sharpie on the plastic, how to erase their marks. This is such a cool trick too! All you have to do is draw with a dry erase marker right over the mistake and then use a q-tip (or tissue) to rub it off!! LOVE that hack!

Once all the contour lines were traced with black sharpie on the plastic sheet protector, they took their photo out and flipped it over to the white side, and placed it back inside with the white side facing up. This allows you to see your lines clearly and see colors more accurately when coloring.

Then students colored in their hair, eyes, lips, and clothing with colored sharpies. They could use any colors they wanted. The only parts they couldn’t color in was their skin. The dry erase marker trick works on the color sharpie as well btw.

These are the sharpies I purchased off Amazon for this lesson. Nice bright, vibrant colors and was fairly cheap too!

One thing I explained to students though was to be careful when coloring near the black sharpie lines. If you get colored sharpie right on top of the black contour lines, it dissolves them. So I just told them to be careful and to go right up to the black contour lines, but try not to go over them.

DAY 3

Students finished coloring in their drawings and once complete, they tested out their plastic sheet drawing on top of both paintings. The cool thing about this project is you can flip the image over and try it out that way too! You can also turn the abstract painting upside down and see how the self-portrait looks as well! So many possibilities! That’s why I had them paint two paintings —not only to experiment more with painting techniques—but this way they had more than one option for their background.

Once students positioned their self-portrait drawings the way they liked it on top of their selected painting, they paper clipped the painting and self-portrait together. Then later on, I trimmed the edges of the plastic sheet with scissors (to remove the sealed edges and the 3 ring binder holes) and stapled the artwork together.

Also—When kids finished, they could keep their 2nd painting and their black and white photo and some students created additional art using them. One student made a really sweet birthday card for her dad using the photo and painting!

I’ll be adding more student artwork here once my other two 5th grade classes finish!

Learning Goals:

Students can utilize the Elements of Art: Line, Shape, Color, Value and Texture to create their art and can define each element

Students learn about Cecilia Paredes and can identify her artwork

Students can define mixed media

Students can define abstract art and create an abstract painting

Students can demonstrate various watercolor painting techniques

Students can define what contour lines are and can create the contour lines for their self-portrait

If you didn’t already see, I recently created a “SELF-PORTRAIT” page listed under the main menu with a variety of self-portrait lessons for grades K-5 (and was updated on 5/31/26!)

I also added a NEW page “Every Art Lesson Since 2017” under my main menu the other day and actually edited it today (5/31/26) so that all these post links are in some kind of order! I put them all by grade level and one miscellaneous category. Now it’ll be easier for you to locate stuff I posted! YAY!

I also plan on adding “summer art lessons”, “fall art lessons” and “winter art lessons” pages soon too!

And finally, I just added an “OP Art”resource sheet in my TpT store for my 5th grade OP Art drawing lesson. My TpT store is HERE!

Thanks so much for visiting my website today!

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Self-Portrait Lessons

May 28, 2026 No Comments

9 different self-portrait art lessons below!

These lessons are listed in order by grade level from Kindergarten to 5th grade.

All pictures shown are of my students artwork only (no teacher examples).

Almost any of these lessons could be used for the grade above or grade below as well!

I’ve included my links (with the exception of one K and one 4th lesson) that go directly to each post about that particular lesson, which include detailed directions, in process photos, finished student artwork, and the learning goals of the lesson. I’ve added a new PAGE listed under my menu called “SELF-PORTRAITS” as well. The page will remain under my main menu and I’ll update it as new lessons are created!
This page will make it much quicker and easier for you to find each self-portrait art lesson! More will be added throughout my teaching too!

Please be sure to check out my drop down MENU to view all that I have to offer on my website (especially if you’re someone new to my site!) There’s lots to look at and I added other additional NEW pages recently too!

I’m also planning on adding a “summer art lessons” page, “fall artlessons” page and “winter art lessons” page over the course of the next couple of months as well, so be on the look out for those!

Ok, here’s my list of Self-Portrait Art Lessons!!

Kindergarten

Self-Portraits with Rainbow Lines

Please go to my Kindergarten Art Lessons page and scroll down near the bottom to view the lesson, read how we made them, see additional photos of students artwork, in process pics, and view the learning goals!

Kindergarten and 1st grade

Self-Portraits with Patterns

Please click on my link below to view my blog post on this lesson and view the step-by-step instructions, view in process pics, learning goals, and see additional artwork!

K + 1st grade Self-Portraits and 3rd grade Kinetic Piranhas!

1st grade

Bubble Blowing Selfies

Please click on my links below to view my blog posts on this lesson and view the step-by-step instructions, view in process pics, learning goals, and see additional artwork!

BUBBLE BLOWING SELF-PORTRAITS- 1ST GRADE!

1st Grade- Bubblegum Blowing Self-portraits (before the bubble!)

2nd grade

Abstract Self-Portrait

Please click on my links below to view my blog posts on this lesson and view the step-by-step instructions, view in process pics, learning goals, and see additional artwork! (I taught this lesson with a slight twist one year – that’s why there’s a second link below.)

I have the fill in the blank sheet with questions kids fill out for this lesson in my TpT store —TpT store link below!
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/art-with-mrs-filmore

ABSTRACT SELF-PORTRAITS -2nd Grade

2ND GRADE ABSTRACT SELF-PORTRAITS!

2nd grade

Thinking of Summer Self-Portrait

Please click on my link below to view my blog post on this lesson and view the step-by-step instructions, view in process pics, learning goals, and see additional artwork! You can also view other additional artwork under my “2nd Grade Art Lessons” page.

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

3rd grade

Self-Portraits with Personal Symbols inspired by Frida Kahlo

Please click on my links below to view my blog posts on this lesson and view the step-by-step instructions, view in process pics, learning goals, and see additional artwork!

The first link uses crayons and the second link uses oil pastels to color with.

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

Self-portraits with Personal Symbols-3rd grade!

4th grade

Neon Pop out Self-Portraits

Please click on my link below to view my blog post on this lesson and view the step-by-step instructions, view in process pics, learning goals, and see additional artwork!

NEON POP OUT SELF-PORTRAITS – 4TH GRADE!

I also have an “I Am” Statements resource sheet that lists positive descriptive words to download and print out (PDF) that you can use for this lesson in my TpT store https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/art-with-mrs-filmore

4th grade

Believe in your Selfie

Please go to my 4th Grade Art Lessons page and scroll down near the bottom to view the lesson, read how we made them, and see additional photos of students artwork! This would be a great lesson for either the beginning of the year or the last day of art, for a fun easy breezy lesson! Maybe they could draw themselves doing something they’d love to do over the summer break!

5th grade

Mixed Media Watercolor Self- Portraits

NEW lesson that I’m SO excited about!!! I’ll be posting students finished artwork on my main “Home/Blog” page later this wknd. (5/30 -5/31/26) and then will add it to my Self-Portraits page as well! Can’t wait to share! Stay Tuned!

I am thinking about creating a YouTube tutorial on self-portraits sometime in the near future. Please let me know if you would like seeing that by emailing me directly (“contact” page). I would love your support and would love to know how many people would be interested in that- so please email!

I’d also create a hand drawn sheet of various hair styles and facial expressions (PDF) in my TpT store to go along with my video creation. Kids could refer to the sheet as they draw their self-portraits!

More self-portrait lessons will be added on my “Self-Portraits” page listed under my main menu as they are created!

I also plan on adding “summer art lessons”, “fall art lessons”, and “winter art lessons” pages along with my “springtime art lessons” page (that’s already listed) soon as well!

Thanks so much for visiting my site today! Please subscribe below for any new updates! (It’s 100% free!) 🙂

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K + 1st grade Self-Portraits and 3rd grade Kinetic Piranhas!

May 23, 2026 No Comments

KINDERGARTEN and FIRST GRADE SELF-PORTRAITS WITH PATTERNS

First of all let me just say that these Kindergartners and first graders did such an INCREDIBLE job creating their self-portraits! I am blown away by their artwork! Great job everyone!

But before I show you pictures of their artwork, I want to first do a description on the lesson before posting pics. Hope you don’t mind!

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

On day 1 of the lesson, we talked about what a self-portrait is vs. a portrait, and then I showed them my example drawings.

Then I showed them a bunch of different artist’s self-portraits in my Google slides—

(Vincent Van Gogh, Mabel Alvarez, Henri Matisse, Paul Gauguin, Rembrandt and Elizabeth Peyton)

We then talked about patterns and how a pattern is when any lines, shapes, images of things, or colors repeat! We looked at a variety of patterns and then some google slides that showed a series of shapes that wasn’t a pattern! and I asked students “ Is THIS a pattern?” to check for understanding.

Then I showed K and 1st graders some of my students’ drawings from previous years with my Google slides, and we discussed how we’d only be drawing ourselves from the chest up, not the whole body (like in kids school photos!)

—DRAWING THE FACE—

Then after students got a sheet of 80# 9×12” white drawing paper, they drew with me as I demonstrated under the doc camera. We started by drawing an oval for the head, then the neck and shoulders. Then I showed them how to lay their pencil down in the middle of their head, and to bring their pencil up slightly and that was where we’d draw the eyes!

I showed how to draw a curved line arching up for the top of the eye, then a curved line arching down for the bottom of the eye. We talked about how the shape is kind of like an almond or a lemon.

Next, I explained to draw a circle inside for the color part of our eye called the iris, and to make sure that it touches the top and bottom, because if you don’t, it can make the expression look scared or surprised! Then to draw a smaller circle for the pupil, right in the middle. We talked a little bit about how our pupils are always in the center of the iris- no matter where we are looking. I love explaining stuff like that to kids, and tossing in some science here and there when creating art!

Kids could then add eyelashes, (I talked about how eyelashes protect our eyes from dust and debris, and act like a little visor from the suns rays, and then we drew a curved line for eyebrows.

Next was the nose. I had kids lay their pencil down again on their paper about halfway between the eyes and the chin. Then to put their finger there (where their pencil was). I broke it down so that we drew a small “smile” line for the bottom middle part of the nose, then a curved ”c” on the left side with space in between and then a backwards “c” on the right side with space in between. Then we connected those areas with a small curved line for the nostrils. Then we drew a small, slightly curved line for the bridge of the nose. I explained, that’s where eyeglasses or sunglasses rest on the nose.

For the mouth, I told kids to lay their pencil down again on their drawings, so it was about halfway between their nose and their chin. Then I broke the steps down for the lips. TBH a little challenging to explain in words without showing, haha, so I won’t be describing that portion. (I however, might make a YouTube tutorial on “how to draw a face” sometime in the near future)! Would you be interested in watching a tutorial on that? I’d also include my handout on different hairstyles for the lesson in my TpT. Please send an email if interested! (Email can be found in my “Contact” page)

—DRAWING THE HAIR—

Then we added hair—- that was the trickiest part. SOO many different kinds of hairstyles out there!! — but I did show a few variations under the doc camera. I explained to start at the top, above the drawn line for the head, if you didn’t have bangs —so cute—some kids asked “what are BANGS?” Then showed to erase the head line after the hair was added, because our hair isn’t see-through. I also had a sheet that I drew with a bunch of different hairstyles that I passed out that they could look at for inspiration while they drew.

Then I showed them how to draw a shirt collar—a big “U” for a crew neck or a “V” for a V neck—or any kind they wanted! Then they could add buttons, zippers, pockets and designs of any kind in their shirt.

Then we drew wide horizontal stripes in the background. Then kids drew patterns inside the stripes. They could draw any kind of pattern they wanted. They could use numbers, letters, lines, shapes, images —as long as it was a pattern.

This drawing in pencil portion of the lesson took a good 2 art classes, then on day 3 kids traced over all their lines with black sharpie.

I just can’t believe the skill level with this student below- look at that duck and lizard?!?! The kid is 7 years old!

There ARE photos of finished artwork coming up!!!

—COLORING SKIN—

When it was time to color, I told students to try their best to match their skin, hair, and eyes, using crayons. I set aside 3 different skin toned crayons in containers and said to draw a bit on the back of their drawing to test the colors out and then put their hand up to the color to see what worked best.

Not the best picture of these crayons, but the ones on the bottom left are more of a caramel brown

—COLORING THE EYES—

For eyes, I mentioned if you have hazel eyes, to color in the eye with green first, then add/blend brown on top. Blue eyes, use blue and brown eyes use brown. Some kids exclaimed “I have black eyes!” but I said, “it looks almost black – like mine – but we have super duper dark brown eyes. So just use a dark brown”. I explained to not color in the whites of the eyes, as I showed them my eyes with my eyes open wide so they could see, and one student asked “can we make them red?”, I said “why red?” and he said, “for the veins”. I said, “oh, that’s true we do have red veins in our eyes, but nah, let’s not do that —we don’t want to make our eyes red because then we’ll look super tired” haha

We also talked about freckles and to add dark brown on top of their skin color to add freckles if they had them. Students could also color their cheeks with pink to make them rosy if they wanted!

—COLORING THE HAIR—

For hair color, if students had dark blonde hair, I showed students how to color in their hair with yellow first and then draw brown lines on top to create a “dirty blond” hair color for those that had dark blonde hair. If they had brown, use brown, red/brown hair to blend those two colors, brown use brown, black-use black etc.

Students could color their clothes and patterns in the background any colors they wanted, but we talked about how adding a pattern of color would enhance the pattern drawing in the background even more.

Look below at all their fantastic artwork! Students did SUCH an AMAZING job creating their self-portraits! I couldn’t be more proud of their hard work and creativity!!

Learning Goals:

Students learn how to draw facial features and begin to understand correct facial proportion

Students can layer and blend colors to create eye and hair color

Students can define “pattern” and can draw a pattern within their artwork

AND NOW FOR THE FINISHED ARTWORK!! FINALLY!

This photo is just too funny – I had to include it

KINETIC PIRANHAS – 3rd GRADE

Students learned that kinetic artwork is art that moves and depends on motion from someone or something to make it move, in order to reach it’s full effect. This could be from a bunch of rotating gears, a computer, batteries, the wind, solar power, water etc. or in our case—hands to open and close the folded paper!!

I showed them examples of previous students kinetic piranha’s as well as my example piranha’s and how they look closed and then opened.

I showed students kinetic artwork by artists Theo Jansen, Arthur Ganson, Anthony Howe, and Mark Nixon before they began their drawings.

These are screenshots of my Google slides that I show my students.

Below are videos of Theo Jansen’s “Strandbeests” (kinetic creatures) that I show my 3rd graders. Watch these videos! They are incredibly amazing! My students LOVE them!!!

Anthony Howe’s kinetic artwork below—these are so cool! You have to watch these too!!

Students each received a piece of 12×18″ 80# white drawing paper and I showed them how to fold it under the document camera.

While the paper was closed, I showed students how to draw the body of the fish in pencil, making a football shape so that the top half of the fish’s body was along the top and the bottom half was drawn along the bottom.

Then we drew the circle for the eye, the tail fin (and I showed a few different ways to create that—wavy, zig-zag edge, or straight) then added a fin at the top and bottom. Then I showed them how to draw stripes inside the body and then to draw whatever patterns they wanted within the stripes.

Then we opened up the paper entirely so you could see the top and bottom parts of the fish with the paper in the middle blank.

Then I showed them how to draw the mouth with a large curved line and big sharp teeth. Then how to continue the stripes within their body to connect the top portion to the bottom portion. Then we just continued drawing the patterns inside each stripe!

Students could then draw smaller fish and other imaginative things about to get eaten by their piranha! Students got really creative with this!

On days 2-5 of the lesson, students carefully went over all their lines with a thick black sharpie, and then colored in adding bright bold colors with marker.

Students really enjoyed this lesson, and took their time when coloring! I’ve been teaching this one for years —and it’s always a hit!

Learning Goals:

– Learn about and have an understanding on kinetic art and create their own kinetic piranha

– Be able to create intricate patterns and show that in their work

– Learn about artists Theo Jansen, Anthony Howe and other artists that create kinetic art

Such a fun way to teach younger students about kinetic art, and I love how they all come out so different!

And some kids had fun with jabbing markers and adding blood!!! Haha

Such a fun lesson for kids —students absolutely love making them, it incorporates sooo many elements of art, they learn about some amazing artists, and it’s so fun to teach!

I’ll be posting 5th grade “Mixed Media Watercolor Self-Portraits” next —-which is a NEW LESSON that I’m VERRRY excited about!!!

I also just added a new page to my menu called “Every Art Lesson Since 2017” —On that page you’ll find every single post (link to the post) that I ever created on this site! Starting at the top with the most recent—working your way down the list —to my very first post in August 2017!

Also—- I added 15 more pics to my “Favorite Fun pics/Kids Creating Art” page (at the bottom)! Check it out!

Thank you so much for visiting my website today! Check out some of my previous blog posts below!

“Mixed Media Bouquet of Flowers” by 4th grade

4th grade “Enlarged Flower Drawings” and 5th grade “Splattered Paintbrushes”!

Mixed Media Cake inspired by Wayne Thiebaud

Mixed Media Watercolor Self-Portraits – 5th grade

One point Perspective Cityscapes – 5th Grade

NEW YouTube Art Tutorial! “April Showers Brings May Flowers” -2nd Grade

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

Winter Northern Lights! 5th grade Art Lesson

Blackout poetry – 5th Grade

Draw your own Inventions – 1st Grade

GRID DRAWINGS inspired by Chuck Close! -5th GRADE

Winter Cardinals -4th grade and Superhero Masks – 2nd grade!

Thanks again for visiting today! Please subscribe below ( it’s FREE! ) You’ll get an email notification every time I post a new blog entry. I usually post about every 7-10 days.

Also…I’m thinking of doing a fun raffle give-a-way. I’m not sure what that entails yet— but if selected, I’d give out some freebies from TpT or something good! I’ll figure something out soon! If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them!

Yikes! I think that was possibly my LOOONGEST blog post EVER

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Mixed Media Watercolor Self-Portraits – 5th grade

April 24, 2026 No Comments

I’m so excited to start this new lesson soon with my 5th graders! I’ve been having fun creating a variety of examples! Watercolors, sharpie markers, plastic sheet protectors, 9×12” 80# white drawing paper, oil pastels ( See below)

I created a few different variations of the first one (below)

Such a fun way to create a self-portrait and I think my students are going to love it!

Here’s what I did to create the first two:

I created the background painting first, by splattering watercolors, with all different colors, all over a sheet of 80# 9×12” white drawing paper with a watercolor brush. I think splattering smaller drops of paint with more paint than water on the brush works best for this technique.

I let the paint sit for a minute on the paper to allow the pigment of the watercolor paint to adhere and saturate the paper, creating the little dots of color here and there. Then I scraped the paint. I think I’ll have students use a piece of stiff cardboard for this, but I used a couple of index cards folded in half together, and turned the index card each time I scraped a section. A cut up cereal box would work great for this. Then the painting was set aside to dry completely. In the 1st photo above, I scrape randomly and in a wavy way. 2nd photo above, I scraped going from the center outward to the edges of the paper all the way around.

Then I took a couple of photos of myself and I also used one that I already had in my phone (the silly wide-eyed expression one looking at the drink) and printed them out as black and white on 8.5” x 11” white copy paper.

Then I slipped the black and white photo inside an 8.5” x 11” clear plastic sheet protector and traced all the contour lines of my face, hair and clothes using a fine point black permanent sharpie on the plastic. Once complete, I pulled the black and white photo out and put a white paper underneath the plastic sheet protector (so I could see my contour lines easily) and colored in my hair, eyes, lips and clothes with colored permanent sharpie markers. I love the texture that the sharpie creates when coloring on plastic! Zoom in on the photos above to see, if you’ve never tried this technique before. It’s so cool!

Then I just laid my colored plastic sheet on top of my painting. You can flip the plastic over to the other side and try it that way as well! There’s so many possibilities to the layout and the way the colors work together with this!

FYI— I did trim the sides and bottom of the plastic sheet protector with scissors after coloring in, in order to get rid of the three ring binder holes that it comes with, and to cut the other side to not make it a sealed edge.
Then once you SEPERATE the plastic just glue the back of your colored plastic sheet with a clear glue stick all over and glue onto your painting!

****More on what brand of sheet protectors and colored sharpies I used below****

For the 3rd one , I first drew random lines with pink and orange oil pastels on 80# 9 x 12” white drawing paper. Then I sprayed water (a fine mist) all over my paper lightly. Then I used blue watercolor paint to splatter randomly over the dampened paper. Then I scraped my paper using the same method with index cards as above and let dry. Then used the same methods with tracing contour lines and coloring with colored sharpies as above.

For images #4, #5 and #6 I created a plastic wrap resist technique. I painted pink/red circles one at a time randomly all over the 80# paper with watercolors, using a lot of paint, then immediately laid down a small cut square of plastic wrap on top of the circle. (You just need to make sure you put a lot of watercolor on your brush and make sure the paint is still wet before putting on the plastic wrap.Also make sure the cut plastic wrap/saran wrap is slightly larger than the circle.)
Then I pulled up the center of each plastic wrap square slightly, and twisted it in one direction tightly, to create the flower petal appearance. I did this for all the circles and then used only a tiny bit of red paint on my brush -but mainly water —and painted all around the plastic wrap flowers, filling in the negative space. Then left it to sit and dry for at least 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, or more, I peeled off the plastic wrap and let the painting dry for an additional 30 minutes before laying the plastic self-portrait on top to take a photo.

For the final picture (pic #7) I did the same technique as above with plastic wrap on watercolors, except I used a variety of colors. I painted one circle at a time and left a bit of white paper in the center, then painted a different color in each center, then applied the cut Saran Wrap on top and twisted. Then I pressed at the circles edges all the way around to let the paint bleed outside my painted circle a little, to create a slightly wavy edge. See pics below

This watercolor plastic wrap resist technique would be fun to use for creating a field of flowers with kids, or a vase of flowers!

I also did a few other paintings ( below) with plastic wrap and wet-on-wet technique with watercolors, but they didn’t really come out as I envisioned them to be, so didn’t use them.

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If any students are reading this, just want to point out that we all go through frustrations, set backs, disappointments, and challenges in art making—-even art teachers!! I know I was annoyed/ frustrated at times when I was creating these examples —but after a bunch of experimenting and perseverance—-I did end up excited and happy with some of my playful results!! So just remember, just keep trying and have fun and you never know what you might discover along the way!
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These are the colored sharpies I purchased on Amazon —I love them and they are very colorful and bright! Pack of 48 (for only 9.90!)

These are the plastic sheet protectors I purchased off Amazon below. Nice thickness, and crystal clear. 25 per pack for a little over $4

You can see in the pic below how clear these are

I also ordered the ones below by a different company—BUT don’t buy these—they have a slight texture to them and aren’t crystal clear as you can see in the photos below.
Too bad I bought 300 of them?!?! But I guess I’ll find a use for them for holding cooking recipes —or I could use them to make my sub plan binder look a little more organized haha

(if you zoom in you can see it has a rough texture to it )

I like using Crayola “Portfolio” brand oil pastels as you can see below- – but I know there’s a bunch of other brands that are just as good / if not better.

5th graders will be starting these once they finish up their “Splattered Paintbrushes” art lesson!

This mixed media watercolor self-portrait lesson is inspired by the contemporary Artist Cecilia Paredes (she is an amazing painter – check out her artwork if you haven’t seen her self-portraits!!!!) I’m excited to introduce my students to her work! Below is a link to view some of her incredible work!

https://echofinearts.com/artists/cecilia-paredes/?srsltid=AfmBOorcI7oDKTetuJTzHXX2Ujij9QrHTkp_gOqPU-wLEmjDoGUF6JPv

I’ll update this post (as well as my “5th Grade Art Lessons” page ) with photos of students working on their art as well as students finished artwork, and the learning goals for the lesson once complete!

Check out some of my recent posts below! (Clicking on the link will bring you right to that post! )

Mixed Media Cake inspired by Wayne Thiebaud

One point Perspective Cityscapes – 5th Grade

Blackout poetry – 5th Grade

Draw your own Inventions – 1st Grade

Winter Northern Lights! 5th grade Art Lesson

I also added a page “springtime art lessons” recently that have 39 springtime art lessons all in one place, with pics and links to my original posts with detailed steps. That can be found under the main menu or you can click Here!

Thanks so much for visiting my website today!

P.S BE ON THE LOOK OUT FOR A SALE IN MY TpT STORE SOMETIME THIS WEEKEND!!! : D

UPDATE! I’ve just added a 20% off entire store sale starting today 4/25 to 4/28!

Link to my TpT store is HERE

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#mixedmediaart

#artprojectsforkids

#splatterpainting

#paintingtechniques

#watercolors

#selfportrait

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NEON POP OUT SELF-PORTRAITS – 4TH GRADE!

May 22, 2018 No Comments

They’re done!! (Well… most of my classes anyhow!) I LOVE them so much! It’s a new lesson I started this year and I think it’s a keeper! Read below the pics to see how these were created!

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

This lesson focuses on The Elements Of Art: (Line, Shape, and Color) and the Principles of Design: (Balance, Emphasis, Variety, Movement, Contrast and Pattern) as well as enhancing knowledge on drawing facial details and proportion.

I don’t think this self-portrait would be the same without the POP OUT 3D element! It makes it SO much more fun!

Plus, If you’ve been following my blog or Instagram account this year, you’ve probably noticed a lot more 3D artwork in the mix. I’ve made it a goal to incorporate more 3D elements in different art lessons for each grade level, since we don’t have a kiln for firing clay pieces at either school I teach in. This was definitely a fun lesson to teach and students seemed to really enjoy it!!

DAY 1:

On the first day of the lesson students drew their self-portrait large on a sheet of 12×18″ neon construction paper. Students had a choice of pink, lime, orange, yellow, or green.

I demonstrated under the document camera to start drawing the head a little bit more than halfway up the paper, and we reviewed ways to draw facial features. I also said they could draw their eyes closed or open, or winking! They were also encouraged to draw a pattern on their shirt for added detail.

Once drawn in pencil, they went over all their lines with a black sharpie to define them and make them stand out.

I absolutely LOVE the texture and movement of this student’s hair!

Check out the pattern on this student’s shirt! Loving the detail!!!

DAY 2 – 3

The following art class students finished drawing and outlining if needed, then carefully cut out their self-portrait leaving a little neon color all the way around the edges.

They then traced their cut out self-portrait along the bottom of a piece of 12×18″ black construction paper, vertically with a pencil.

After that- they set the cut out one aside, and wrote positive attributes in pencil all around their traced self-portrait. We talked about VARIETY and BALANCE and to write some words larger than others and some diagonally, sideways, and straight across.

I had a printed list of adjectives that each student could refer to for suggestions if they needed it. Kids could write other things as well of course if it wasn’t on the list, as long as it was positive.

Then they went over their words with a white colored pencil, making sure to make some brighter and more bold than others. The bright white lettering adds CONTRAST against the black paper.

DAY 4:

On the final day, students then traced a variety of colored chalk pastels all along the traced outline on the black paper. We went over the color wheel beforehand and reviewed primary, secondary, warm, cool, complementary, and analogous.

They applied the chalk pastels in short, thick lines and then using their finger- smudged the chalk going outward and away from their outlined self-portrait to create a glowing affect.

Students washed their hands (or used baby wipes) after using the chalk pastels, then took their neon cut out self-portrait again and traced it once more but this time, onto a sheet of 12×18″ white 80# drawing paper. Then went over those pencil lines with black sharpie.

Then carefully cut that one out –leaving a bit of white paper showing all around the edges. Then glued it into place on the black paper using a glue stick.

Then later on I attached their NEON cut out to go over the white one. I originally thought it would be a good idea to hot glue strips of cut cardboard to mount between the two in order for the neon one to pop out.

HAha…. That proved to be waaaay to time consuming cutting cardboard into strips. Plus I’d have to layer more than two strips to achieve the thickness I wanted.

SOOOoooo…. scrap THAT idea!

Then I tried bending strips of cardboard (from the neon paper packaging) into an accordian fold and hot-gluing those in between the two. Like so…

That DID work….however….. it too was VERY very time consuming (and kinda hurt my hands after awhile folding back the cardboard over and over and over).

I knew it wasn’t a very good method, but went on with it anyways. I wanted to get what I could done, since I planned on working on them that afternoon, and only had those materials on hand to make the pop out portion work. I think I got through 20 pieces of artwork.

THEN…. had the idea of using SPONGES!!! I went to Dollar Tree the next day and basically bought out the store of ALL of their sponges!! They sold them in packs of two, for just a buck and I only needed 1 sponge per students art.

I also cut each one up into smaller pieces to help spread and distribute the needed pop out support. Cutting them with scissors was super easy, thank goodness!!! It went SUPER quick and worked out perfectly with the hot glue!

YAY! (insert happy dance)

TA-DA!!!

Would LOVE to hear what you all think! I hung up a bunch so far at both schools, (I have a total of (5) 4th grade classes doing this project) and will be adding everyone else’s SOON!! 🙂

To view other artwork by 4th grade from this year (and previous years) click on “4TH GRADE ART LESSONS” under the drop down menu!

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my blog! Join/Subscribe to my blog and submit your email to get up to date notifications!

Be sure to check back SOON for more amazing artwork! Take care and be kind everybody! 🙂

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Self-portraits with Personal Symbols-3rd grade!

January 17, 2018 No Comments

Students! If you are looking for my YouTube Art Tutorial Videos you can

just click or tap HERE!!! OR, click on “art instruction videos” in my drop down menu!

Third graders at Amvet Elementary finished their awesome self-portraits with personal symbols inspired by the artist Frida Kahlo! They learned how to draw facial details, how to blend colors to best match their unique skin colors using oil pastels, and included 6 or more personal symbols! Students did an incredible job creating these!

Take a look for yourself below! Fun photos of kids creating are underneath their artwork!

To learn more about this lesson, and view additional artwork from previous years—click On “3rd Grade Art Lessons” in the drop down menu and scroll down!

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Sharing and Showcasing Art Education Ideas

August 9, 2017 1 Comment

Welcome to my new website/blog!

I’m an elementary public school art teacher (1st-5th grade) in MA. I’m so excited to start this new online adventure and learn from/get feedback from all you amazing art teachers out there! Hopefully you’ll find my site useful too! I’m also very excited to share student’s artwork with all the North Attleboro families where I teach!

Here you’ll find:

· Elementary art lessons with lesson descriptions and learning goals with photos of student art work that I’ve taught over the years

· FREE art lesson Powerpoint downloads with printables!

· Fun photos of kids working on their awesome art

· Talk of any creative happenings in the art room

· News of any exciting art related upcoming events

· Teaching reflections

· Links to fun art games and videos

· Tons of photos

All student artwork on this site is a combination of 1st-5th grade art from the two elementary schools that I’ve taught at in North Attleboro, MA since Sept. 2014.

Below are some of my favorite art lessons I’ve taught. To learn more about them, and view additional pics of student artwork, please click on the art lesson grade level in the menu and scroll down!

I hope that you find this website helpful for use in your art classroom or at home with your own kids! Look around and let me know what you think!

Thanks for visiting and checking out my website!

Best,

Mollie