In the Art Room: Dean Russo-Inspired Tigers with Third Grade!

Whenever I share a lesson on this blog before having done the lesson with my students, I always like to share a follow-up post. Cuz, you know, lessons don't always go as we think they will. Or maybe the kids don't respond as excitedly as you'd hoped. Well, thankfully, neither was the case with this Dean Russo-Inspired Colorful Tiger lesson. My students LOVED it, they were so stinkin' proud of themselves and I was just beyond thrilled to share them with y'all! 

 In case you missed the details of this lesson and the supplies we used, you can find all that info here. This lesson took about two and a half-ish (pending on the artist!) art classes. On our first day, we did a guided drawing of a tiger after we'd wrapped up a sketchbook prompt. We worked BIG on 18" squares of paper. We also used bingo daubers filled with India ink. Here's the video lesson I created to share with you and my students:

The kids were super excited by Dean Russo's art. The loved his subject matter (animals!), bold colors and patterns. Our school mascot is a tiger so that's why we went the route we did. As my students get older, I do fewer and fewer guided drawings with them. This will probably be our only one this year. We had a blast creating them.

 We didn't draw in pencil first and we didn't get new papers if we "messed up". These guys are familiar with the book Beautiful Oops and are very good at applying that mindset. 

 By our second class, we were ready to use chalk and starch. If you aren't familiar with the magic that is chalk and starch, check out the video above. Total game changer.

About half of the kids finished the chalk portion on the second day. On the third day, they finished off the chalk and then dived right in with the oil pastels. I told them that if their paper had wet areas due to the starch not to draw on those areas with oil pastel. I gave them a deadline: THIS IS OUR LAST DAY! That seemed to inspire my pokey lil puppies to complete their masterpiece. Our carrot was that we are sewing in the following art classes so they needed to step on it!

 I was tempted to have them add something to the background but in the end, I really thought the white made their tigers look even more amazing. Plus we were ready to move on. 

 For display, I knew that if I just hung them on our blah colored walls, they would just fade into the background. So I raided the workroom and walked out with armfuls of colorful bulletin board paper. 

 Ah!! LOVE all of those line details in oil pastel!

 Obviously this artist was not havin' that all white background!

 I really loved having the kids work big. The biggest we normally work is the size of construction paper: 12" X 18". Creating bigger just might be my new favorite thing. Ima need a bigger art room tho!

 Puh-puh-puh-patterns!

 I was so impressed with each of my artists!

 So happy they were too. 

 This afternoon, I was only able to get one half of the display complete...there's always tomorrow!

Thought this quote tied in nicely. Thank you for letting me share, y'all!

Read more »

In the Art Room: Dean Russo-Inspired School Mascot!

I'm so excited to share this lesson with y'all! My students are loving it, we are learning about a wonderful artist, using new art supplies in unusual ways and making marvelous masterpieces all at the same time!

Our school mascot is the tiger. That was the inspiration behind which animal we created. However, you could do any animal or person for this project. In fact, if you check out the artist Dean Russo, our inspiration, you'll find that his main source of inspiration are animals. Here's the lesson I created for my students...and yours! 

Here are the supplies we used:

Bingo dotters! These are my NEW FAVORITE TOOL in the art room! If you follow me here, you've seen my first graders working with these too. I have had them in my cabinet forever (they come empty) and I initially filled them with tempera paint and water...big mistake. They clogged and didn't work at all. One day, I remembered them and decided to add India ink instead...bingo! (see what I did there?) They work great, are low mess and the kids LOVE them! Check out these HUGE drawings created by my third graders in just 30 minutes!

We did not draw these out first. We had a long chat about Beautiful Oops and just going with the flow...and not getting upset with what we perceive as our "mistakes". Then we just went for it. At the end of the lesson, so the kids could see everyone's work, we all stood on our chairs and took a look around the room. Then we let out a great big tiger's ROAR! 

This week we will be adding color with a fun method: chalk and liquid starch!

Let's first talk about chalk. My absolute favorite is Faber-Castell's chalk. It's bold, bright and works so well with this process.

Please watch the video so you can actually see the magic that is chalk and starch. I learned this trick from my sweet and AMAZING art teacher buddy Jennifer Alvarado. A lot of folks have told me that they have a hard time finding this product. Try Walmart online if you can't find it in the store. 

This will be the second time we've used this method this year. Check out my fourth grader's landscapes...so pretty!

This lesson is super for teaching color theory. These laminated color wheels get a lot of love during this lesson. 

Earlier this school year, I organized my oil pastels in bead containers after seeing a fellow art teacher do this. I will be interested to see just how well my third graders manage to keep these organized without Naggy Stephens having to get on their case. 

 I actually thought the tiger looked good before the pattern. But since that's what Russo is known for, I thought I'd give it a go. I'm so glad I did! I think the kids are going to have so much fun with this part.

As my students make progress on their tigers, I'll be sure and keep you posted. 

Read more »