In the Art Room: Fourth Grade Color-Mixing Landscapes

Hey, y'all! If you follow me on the Instagrams, then you've seen my oversharin' ways of this here fourth grade color-mixing, landscape-paintin' project. It's proven to be a super fun lesson that my students have really enjoyed (and learned a thangie or two which you just can't beat). But before I dive into the how's, why's and whutz-its of this here project, I'd like to share some exciting news with y'all...

The lovely Heidi Easley of theaccidentalartistonline.com recently interviewed me as apart of a free online summit. She's interviewed over twenty artist from all over the world to share their story of makerin' and their journey of creativitiness. I had so much fun chatting with Heidi and my lil chat will go live this Wednesday, April 22nd. So! Get yourself all signed up and I'll see you on Wednesday!

And now, back to our regularly scheduled post...

This lesson started with an intro to the Swiss-born, Mexican-raised artist Xavier Castellanos. You can check out the prezi I created and shared with my students here. 

After our chat, I told the kids they'd be using the following:

* 9" X 12" paper. This is small for us. But I wanted the kids to be able to really get into the details and not be overwhelmed by a massive piece of paper.
* Recycled styrofoam plates. These worked great for color mixing and could be rinsed off and reused the next day.
* Sax Versa Temp Paints. The kids were given the following: red, magenta, yellow, turquoise, blue and white. After a coupla days, they got some brown for trees. I know they coulda made it but they were longing for a rich brown. AND they totally spotted it on my paint shelf. Busted. 
* Royal Langnickel brushes in a variety of sizes. 

After our lil chat about Xavier, I covered what you see here in this clip. I really emphasized the color wheel and how to read it. They became pros at looking at my simple color wheel and mixing up their desired color. Sticking with my rule of only mixing two colors together (not including white) prevented the kids from entering Muddy Town. 

 By the end of the first day, we were about here. 

And, because I'm a talker, the end of the second day looked a lil like this. I did blow their minds a bit on the second day by telling them that you could in fact mix more than two colors together if, and only if, they were analogous. This opened a whole new realms of possibilities and kept 'em on the color-mixing toes. We did chat about creating patterns for fields as well. Here's another vid clip to give you an idea.

I do hope that makes a lic o' sense. If not, imagine how my poor students feel!

What I think the kids really enjoyed about this project was color mixing. It always seems magical when you create a color that is beautiful. The kids were convinced we should frame their palettes alongside their paintings which I kinda think woulda been a swell idea had I not needed them for my four fourth grade classes.

Once complete, some kids opted to add clouds to their skies, different patterns to their land. Some added trees and buildings while others did not. 

And others went the more evening-time, comet-zipping-through-the-sky-route. An artist after my own heart: in elementary school, I was obsessed with Haley's Comet (1985 was the year it was zipping my way and I still have all of the souvenirs, newspaper clippings and drawings to prove it). I love this painting so.

I love how each of the kid's personality's shined through these colorful and happy pieces.

The final optional stage was to outline each piece of land with a bold color. Many kids decided not to and I think their work looks lovely. 

But I do love how bold the outlined landscapes look as well. 

I must admit: usually when I teach landscape, it's in the form of a collage. That way the kids can literally see the difference between back, middle and foreground. Now, with this project, I'm a total convert. Especially with the heavy color-mixing element. 

 I love how each child's personality really shined through every piece. Doesn't this one have a Grandma Moses feel to you? Check out this detail...

That's a wee artist on the left working on a landscape painting at her easel. Swoon. 

I do hope you enjoy these lil video clips I've been posting lately. If so, I'll keep 'em coming. I'd love to hear from y'all!

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In the Art Room: See you in New Orleans!

Hey, y'all! Please pardon my absence on this here blog...I've been crazy busy spring breakin' and preparing for the art teacherin' conference in New Orleans! Which one of y'all are going? I do hope to see y'all there. There will be plenty of chances for us to get together and chat as I foolishly decided to present a buncha times. In case you are interested, I thought I'd throw my prezi dates and times out there for y'all: 

Thursday, March 26th: 

2:00 - 2:50 PM

Write? Right! Publishing to Advocate Your Art Program

Pam Stephens, Nancy Walkup, Cassie Stephens, Nicole Briscoe

Join four published authors to explore publishing your art-teaching ideas and then turn those ideas into advocacy for your program. Includes practical suggestions, tips, and writing guidelines. Interactive Discussion

Hilton Hotel/Chart B/Riverside Building

4:00 – 4:25

10 Exciting Ways to Teach Art Vocabulary They Won’t Forget

Cassie Stephens

Learn new methods of enriching student vocabulary in fun and innovative ways. Songs, word games, call and response methods, and sign language are just a few of the exciting methods introduced. Best Practice Lecture

Convention Center/Meeting Room R05/Second Level

Friday, March 27th:

11:00 - 11:50 AM

Elementary Carousel of Learning: Teacher Art Blogs

Nancy Walkup

Four accomplished elementary art educators from across the country will share their successful art blogs for their art rooms. Phyllis Brown of There's a Dragon in my Art Room, Laura Lohmann of Painted Paper, Sheryl Depp of Primary Art with Mrs. Depp and Cassie Stephens of that blog with her name because she wasn't creative enough to come up with anything else.  

Convention Center/Meeting Room 216/Second Level

1:00 to Wheneverness

Meet Art Ed Bloggers in the AOE Booth!

Meet up and chat with some of your fave art ed bloggers in the AOE booth in the vendor's hall! I know I absolutely loved meeting my blogging heroes and well as chatting with the 5 folks that read this here blog! Drop by and let's chat, y'all!

Saturday, March 28th 

7:00 - 8:50 PM

Design Your Own Curriculum-Aligned Clothing Line

Cassie Stephens

Instead of simply talking to your students about famous artists or their works of art, why not become the three-dimensional element that brings the experience to life? In this workshop, you will learn the art of needle felting and apply that skill to the creation of an apron. This apron will be designed with your own curriculum in mind and will be ready to wear in your art room. Armed with this new method of altering clothing, as well as other techniques introduced, you will be able to design your own curriculum-aligned clothing line. Hands-On Workshop Studio (2 hours) Ticket Required. (Sorry, y'all. This one is SOLD OUT.)

Hilton Hotel/Rosedown/3rd Floor

And there you have it, kids! If you aren't able to attend this year's NAEA conference, don't you fret. I'll be sure to post both what I shared and all that I learned right here. If you want minute by minute action, you can follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Looking forward to chatting with y'all both in for realz life and via the interwebs. 

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UncommonGoods and a Giveaway (Now Closed)

Hey, y'all! I'm comin' attcha today with some super good stuff from UncommonGoods. If you're not familiar with this fantastical online retailer, they've been around since 1999 and are based outta a historic army terminal in Brooklyn. They specialize in selling unique and handcrafted gifts from around the world with the majority of goods created right here in the U.S. UncommonGoods is actually my baby gift go-to because I absolutely love these sweet socks and this hilarious baby fortune-tellin' gift. 

So when UncommonGoods asked me if I'd be interested in picking out a couple of goodies from their site AND sharing that love with you in the form of a giveaway, y'all know I jumped at the chance. I'd love to say that I did it just for you but, shoot! Have you seen the delightfulness on their site? I was stoked to pick out some treasures for myself. After I placed my order, I seriously received my box of goodies two days later! And promptly created this unboxing video just for you. I know, I'm such a giver.

Words cannot express how delightful that box smelled! It was the Chai Tea Kit that I ordered. I'm lovin' that tea! 

Now, I know what you're thinking..."did she mention a giveaway?!" Oh, I toooootally did. Just you wait, Ima getting there. 

First lemme show you all the yummies I picked out. If you've never perused UncommonGood's website before, they have it laid out in such an easy to navigate kind of way. I spent entirely too much time scrolling through the gifts for women section as well as the jewelry and art pages. And there's this incredible section where you can personalize your gifts which I find to be all the more sweet. When I discovered this Around the World Scarf, I knew it would be just the perfect thing to wear in my art room when we discuss other cultures. I had fun wearing it both as a scarf and a shrug!

One of my New Year's Resolutions (okay, my only one. I try not to set myself up for failure) was to stop drinking coffee. It's been an absolute nightmare (coffee gives me so much power that I feel as though I could flip cars and leap tall buildings, man!) but tea has made the transition bearable. Especially tasty teas. Which is why I was excited to see that Chai Tea Kit!  

I mean, look how pretty it is! Any tea drinker would be a fan. 

Never having made homemade chai tea before, I was happy to see that it came with clear directions. AND it didn't require any fancy tea making equipment. Just a saucepan to boil the ingredients and a strainer. I can handle that scandal. 

Especially if this is the result. Do you happen to have Scratch -n- Sniff on your phone? If so, I swear, if you scratch that cuppa, you'll smell the chai-tasticness.
Another pick of mine was this belt by Jenny Krauss. I've seen these belts before and I've always wanted one. There are actually several belts by this artist on the site but this one really struck me. I love the retro colors and the motif totally puts me in a Klimt state of mind. 

Such a funky combo, right? Love it!

I couldn't help wearing it today!

Of course, y'all know I have a soft spot for needle felting. If I have a sweater in my closet long enough, Ima gonna needle felt something on it. That being said, I've never really tried my hand at three dimensional needle felting. I've always been a little afraid to give it a go. That's why I jumped a the chance to try this Owl Needle Felting Kit. It contains a generous amount of roving as well as super detailed directions. I cannot wait to start creating these cute little dudes!

Alrightie, friends, so how bouts that giveaway, hmmm? UncommonGoods is generously offering a $50 gift certificate! How awesome is that?! To enter to win, all you gotta do is the following:

*  Leave a comment below. You can tell me what you'd spend your $50 on or simply something you love on the UncommonGoods site. 

* Leave your email address! This way I can contact you if you are the lucky winner.

And that's it! The winner will be announced Monday, February 2nd so be sure to stay tuned, all y'all! 

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