6th Grade: Van Gogh Autumn Landscapes

After looking at various landscapes by Van Gogh, students began this project by drawing hills and shading and blending them with chalk pastels.  Then they did the same for the sky, using a paper towel wrapped around their finger to blend. For the sky they could choose either warm or cool colors, and either a swrirly sky or a radiating sun sky.  Second day, students used oil pastels to create their sky, trees and grass.  On the last day they finished up the details and did a leaf rubbing for the corner using a real leaf.

3rd Grade: Thai Elephants

3rd Graders have been learning about the culture of Thailand, and so I decided we would create a project based on one of Thailand's most beloved animals, the elephant.  The first day we drew our elephants into foil (silver, copper, or gold) with a pencil, added a blanket with a simple pattern or design and cut them out.  Next day students colored their elephants with Sharpies and painted paper for their background.  Last day, we added the string and bead tail and taped our elephants onto the background with masking tape. Students had fun with this one!

2nd Grade: Matisse Pattern Pumpkin

I'm finally getting some projects posted! Sorry I've been MIA!  This project was a fun one, borrowed from another art teacher in my school district.  First day we talked about patterns and spent class painting 3 different patterns on three different papers.  We painted with purple paint on the purple paper (9x12), orange paint on the orange paper (6x9), and green paint on the green paper (6x9).  We had just finished learning about primary colors and now we focused on secondary colors.  Next class, students used the purple paper for their background, cut the green paper in half long ways for the grass, and cut out a big oval on the organge paper for the pumpkin.  They used some of their leftover green paper for the stem.  They collaged all of those together and we discussed overlapping.  Last class students make leaves from red and yellow construction paper, and outlined everything in glue. Finally they sprinkled on glitter and voila!

6th Grade: Frank Stella Protractor Series

We've been studying Frank Stella's Protractor Series.  After learning about the artist and analyzing his work through a PowerPoint, students began drawing their own designs using a pencil, protractor, and ruler.  Next day, students outlined their design with sharpie, and started coloring with colored pencil.  I had several students tell me this was the most favorite project they've ever done... they are easy to please! Some of their design are very mathematical.

4th Grade: Gyotaku Prints

We have been learning about the ancient Japanese art form of fish printing, Gyotaku.  After watching a short clip (which the students thought was hilarious) here, we used printing ink, rubber fish, and large paint brushes.  Students were able to choose 2 colors of ink, plus a touch of silver ink.  They kept the fish flat on the table and painted the ink on with the brush.  Then we used thin white paper (not construction paper) and placed the paper on top of the fish.  After gently massaging the fish and covering all parts with their fingers, they pulled the paper off to reveal their print.  Second day, we learned how to write our name in Japanese, and added that a the bottom.

Art Club: Sharpie Tie-Dye T-Shirts

*image and instructions found here

here is another set of instructions that explains how to set the colors so you can wash in a normal load of laundry.

I'm running an Art Club during lunch this year, which only gives me about a half hour extra with the kids, so I need to come up with some quick and fun activities that are not too difficult to clean up, since I have my regular classes coming in right after.  I found this tutorial on making t-shirts with sharpies, and I'm definitely going to give it a try!  I will post my own kids photos of their shirts as soon as we try it.

100 Followers!, Pinterest, and Blogger Frustration

I finally made it to 100 followers on this ol' blog! Woo Hoo! Thank you to everyone who follows- I love reading comments and most likely I follow you too and get inspired by you every day!  Now, for my obsession with pinterest.  I have to be peeled from my computer every night because it is just so darn addicting.  When I first started looking I was amazed to see how many pics had been pulled from my blog, kind of cool, but also kind of strange! Here is my pinterest account if you're interested in following: http://pinterest.com/kmissavage/

Last but not least- I have been so frustrated with blogger lately because it won't let me comment back on people's comments.  I just seriously spent about a half hour typing comments back to art project girl and phyl about my room set-up and when I went to post it, it was deleted and told me I needed to sign in.  I lost my whole comment! So as soon as I figure that out, and when I have more patience I will get back to your comments!