DIY: Patterned Planters

So my new project of late has been painting what I've dubbed my Patterned Planters. I found these three wooden planters up at Target recently in their arts and crafts isle. YES, they now have an arts and crafts isle...and YES you will buy silly little somethings that you don't need but must have. Please tell me I'm not alone in my thinking that Target pumps some sort of magical air into their stores that acts as a shopping aphrodisiac. I see you Target! I know what you are up to and yet I just can't quit you! 

Refocus. Planters. 

I mean, look at them. How could I turn away from their mid-century mod adorableness? It would be like leaving behind a platter of puppies at a buffet (I have no idea...I saw a Golden Corral commercial today at the dentist and now I'm obsessed with the idea of unlimited proportions). When I saw these, it was like a knee-jerk reaction, immediately grabbing them and tossing them into my cart (fun Southern fact: shopping carts are often referred to as buggies. As in, "Ima fixin to go on down to The Pig {that would be the Piggly Wiggly} and fill my buggie up with Pabst. Ya need anythang?")

I had no idea what I was going to do with these planters and so they sat for a good month doing a bang up job collecting dust and taking up space. After painting this wooden jewelry and really enjoying it, I decided to attack one of the planters one evening.  

I dunno if you are like me, but sometimes I will talk myself out of creating because of the following excuses:

* I don't have time. Which is usually true...but c'mon, those dirty dishes, lesson plans (hahahahaha, what lesson plans?!) and laundry can wait!

* I don't have the right supplies. Then use what you got!

* I don't have an idea. Which, I have found, can often lead to THE BEST ideas. It's having an idea that can be crippling. Letting go is the best way to open your mind.

...and, this one's THE WORST...

* I might mess up. Ugh! Who cares?! I remember one time I had this unpleasant teacher who produced the plays at my high school. When she was trying to decide who to give the lead role in the play to, me or my friend, she wrote us each a "heartfelt" letter. In it she told us both, "it really doesn't matter who I pick. It's not like either of you are going to end up doing anything with your talent." Side note: my friend is an EXTREMELY talented artist, art teacher and public speaker. Thank you very much. I don't know what that has to do with "messing up" but it just came to me and I felt like sharing. You're welcome!

To start each planter, I kinda grabbed a handful of paints from my stash and established that as the planter's color palette. I then painted each flat surface a color, allowed to dry and then attacked each with a variety of pattern. 

 I love to create "after hours"... I usually start around 8pm while watching some mindless something on Netflix that I only half need to pay attention to (I kinda love The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmitt right now) and work until, well, way past my bad time. This creative outlet is a great way for me to unwind unlike something like sewing...where I have to focus or my relaxing time becomes a marathon of seam ripping and creative cussing. It's an Olympic sport.

Because I happen to be a serial plant killer, I decided to opt out of the real deal and use these fun beaded flowers I recently scored at an estate sale. They are handmade. The woman had a beautiful window sill full of them and how-to books in her basement. Y'all better believe I scooped up both.

I went with a more retro colored palette for this planter. Of course, I am always heavily influenced by Mary Blair. I have a couple books of her work and I was constantly flipping through them for ideas. 

Nothing says 1970's Tupperware like this color scheme. Hello, avocado green!

This isn't my first time down pattern planter road. 'Member these cat liter container planters? (okay...trust me, follow the link. They are much cuter than they sound, y'all).

So now I kinda wanna attack everything with patterns. I mean, I even wanna glue these three together, run some wires through them and make it into the stand for a lamp. I know, right?!

 Then again, I also wanna frame my palette. So there's that. 

Awright. Thanks for letting me share. Now if you'll excuse me, that buggie of Pabst ain't gonna drink itself. 

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In the Art Room: Experiments in Color Mixing

If you need a quick color theory activity, have I got the thing for you! My first grade is in the middle of a folk art-inspired landscape project (details to come) and they are currently learning about pattern, creating tints, the parts of a landscape, y'all know the drill. Today I wanted them to create some beautiful papers for the details of their landscape. But how? Painting with marbles, that's how!

via GIPHY

Using the same trays that second grade used for floating chalk prints and shaving cream marbling, I just dropped two primary colors and white at one end of the tray before the kids arrived. They were to pick any color of paper they liked, write their name and teacher code on the back and place the paper with the name down into their tray. Each tray got a large marble and they just started rolling. 

 I have a ton of these trays so each student was able to have their own. After they thought their paper was covered to their liking, they could get another paper, swap trays with a buddy who might have different primary colors and start rolling. 

This was a huge hit, y'all. The boys were super into it. I heard them excitedly talking about what colors they were creating and the different types of lines their marble made. I was asked if we could do it every art class. 

 Not gonna lie, rinsing out all of those trays was the most taxing part. Other than that, it was the perfect on-the-fly activity with a super powerful impact. 

I can't wait to share with you what they create with these beauties. And I now know what my kindergarten friends will be doing this week as well.

Have fun, y'all! 

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In the Art Room: Chalk Prints and Shaving Cream Marbling

In second grade we are working like crazy with our short 30 minute art classes to try our hands at two different paper treatments: floating chalk prints and shaving cream marbling. My goal has been for all of my students to attempt both processes twice before the end of class. It's a go-go-go kind of class but it's a lot of fun. When I shared a couple short videos of my students working on these papers, I got a lot of questions about the process. So I created a video that will walk you through each. I'll also go through the supplies needed in this here post. Here's the how-to video:

Supplies for floating chalk prints:

* Paper. I used 6" X 9" papers. These will be used for the covers of their Rainbow Book. I only order between 80- 90 lbs paper for the art room. 

* Chalk. We used Freart Chalk by Prang. I like this chalk because it's high in pigment and thick like sidewalk chalk.

* Tongue depressors. We used the big ones which you can get cheap at the Dollar Tree.

* Tub of water. I made it so each my students had their own tub to save on time. I see my second graders at the end of the day so this meant I didn't have to hustle to move the tubs for my next class. 

If you watch the video, you'll see just how easy this process is...and how beautiful the results are. 

I have a feeling the kids are going to have a hard time deciding which beautiful papers to use for the covers of their Rainbow Book!

When doing these chalk prints, you can even use stencils to create a really cool look. Check out this blog post where we used star stencils. 

The best part is, you don't have to "set" these creations as you would normal chalk pieces!

 For shaving cream marbling, you'll need the following:

* Shaving cream. We used cheap dollar store stuff.
* Liquid watercolor.
* Paint brushes.
* Tongue depressors.
* Paper. 

This process required more steps so some of my students would get excited and forget those steps. I made sure to appoint my Art Teachers in Training who did a wonderful job reminding kids of the steps. Yay! 

I did not change out the bins of shaving cream or water. For the floating chalk prints, it was not necessary. For the shaving cream, it just meant that the following prints had more color. 

 Again, so pretty! I can't wait to see these on the covers of their books. Here are the books they are creating:

I have done shaving cream prints before...but never in a closed container. I am never going back, y'all! The mess is contained...like, literally.

Have y'all done these kind of prints before? I'd love to hear about it! I'm also curious to know what you did with your beautiful papers. 

I'll be sure and update you with our completed Rainbow Books!

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Field Trip! Sawtooth Print Shop

I'm excited to share with my students and y'all another installment in that series of videos that I'm calling Field Trip!  I got the idea to visit contemporary artists and film them in action to share with my students. The goal is for them to see living artists creating and know that creating art takes many forms from mural painting to folk art to...printmaking. Which brings me to these two good lookin' folks, Chris Cheney and Nieves Uhl of Sawtooth Print Shop.

They are seriously so much fun!

I met Chris and Nieves at a workshop hosted by The Frist Center for Visual Arts. We had so much fun that when I was dreaming up artists to visit, their studio immediately came to mind. Not surprisingly, they were totally open to the idea and were gracious enough to carve time (see what I did there? "Carve"...get it?!) out of their busy schedule to show me just how they create their prints. They were so thorough in their explanations that I believe kids will understand their process. 

Personally, I just loved exploring their space and snapping photos for their vintage typeface. I was told most are purchased from former printmakers who no longer have a means to print or a desire to do so. 

 I loved how clearly they explained the reasoning behind carving backwards. I know I would mess that up ALL.THE.TIME. I don't know how they do it.

Both artists did their internship at Hatch Show Print which must-see if you are ever visiting beautiful downtown Nashville. 

I felt like I learned so much from this field trip as well! Seeing the process of how their posters are creating was like taking a step back in time. I think that showing this Field Trip! video will be a great introduction to any printmaking unit. 

Since we're talking about printmaking, I thought I'd add some of my favorite printmaking projects and videos to this post. 

You don't need fancy printmaking supplies to create great prints with your students. In a pinch, you can use styrofoam sheets, markers, paper and a damp sponge. If you've never tried marker prints, they are a game changer! First grade created these lovely prints with that method. More details here. 

Last year, third grade tried their hand at printmaking with these beautiful cityscape prints. 

For that, we did use ink but markers could have been used as well. 

Gelli Plates make a great printmaking surface as well, which is what we used for this Andy Warhol-inspired lesson. I've created my own gelatin plates and had the kids use those as well. 

Earlier this year, my third graders created these marker prints and used them in a fall collage. 

Fourth grade created these radial prints for Dot Day and had a ton of fun. 

Seriously, y'all. This poster created by Sawtooth is a kid-fave in my room.  

Special thanks to Chris and Nieves for the fun visit. Y'all are the best! 

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In the Art Room: Recycle Hearts with First Grade

Yesterday, I shared on Instagram (I'm @cassie_stephenz), I shared this fast and furious 2/thirty minute session art project that I did with my first grade students using recycled materials...and I received many questions. I'm MISERABLE at responding to questions on Insta (I dread typing on that tiny phone keyboard with my sausage fingers) so I promised to share this simple project in blog form. So here you go!

 This lesson was created outta the fact that I had two classes that were ahead of the rest (gotta love that!). We've been focusing on the theme of love and last week finished off our 101 Dalmatians. Recently, while second grade was cutting out hearts for this project, I noticed how pretty the negative heart shapes looked when laying on the surface of a messy mat. Later, when I was tidying up, I found a stash of transparency film and had a eureka moment...what if the kids collaged tissue paper onto the film and created a faux stained glass window! I hope that thought process of mine made some sort of sense. Isn't it funny how ideas come to us?

Day 1 of a 30 minute class...

Supplies:

* Transparency film cut into 8" squares
* Warm colors of tissue paper
* Modpodge
* Large brushes
* Paper to write names and transport wet transparency film

We chatted about loads of stuff before starting: warm colors, transparent, translucent and opaque. We also talked about static electricity as the transparency film was so staticky! One kiddo said, "it's art science!" Art is a science, buddy. The kids then went "shopping" for their supplies. They were to coat their transparency in Modpodge, apply whatever colors of tissue they liked and then add another layer of the 'podge. This was placed on a sheet of paper with their name on it and placed on the drying rack. 
The next day, they looked like this coming off the drying rack. So pretty! We had fun holding them  up to the light. This was also a super fun color experimenting activity as many of the students noticed that when certain colors overlapped, they created new ones. 

Day 2 of a 30 minute class...

Supplies:

* Messy mats cut to 8" square (these are the tag board mats the kids use under their artwork when they are painting. I got the idea from my buddy Laura to use them for art projects and I LOVE it!) 

* Black and white paint

* Paint brushes and Q-tips

The next day, the kids were to pick a messy mat which they liked the colors of. They traced a heart template, cut it out (starting at the bottom of the heart to make a clean cut) and bring it to me. While I hot glued their "stained glass" to their negative shape, they worked on painting their positive shape hearts. 

In my room, we talk A LOT about using a paint brush correctly, pretending it is a ballerina who always dances on her tippy toes...and never EVER scoots around on her bottom. This really helps my kids understand how to create delicate lines. Once their hearts were dry, I framed them with more recycled messy mats!

I'm so excited how pretty these turned out. Our halls are looking so LOVEly right now. I can't wait to add these to our displays. 

Hope y'all have a lovely weekend. Stay warm, rest up and take it easy. That's my plan, anyway. 

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