All Things Watercolor in the Elementary Art Room

Hey, friends! 

I don't know about you...but when The Countdown to Summer begins, I often start thinking about my life choices...aka How I Wanna Do this Art Teacherin' Thing Differently Next Year. Anyone else? So it's with that in mind that I thought I'd share with you my FAVORITE watercolor tips and tricks for the elementary art room. Here ya go:

These tips and tricks come straight from me having MANY moments in my art room where I saw something that made my left eye twitch and I paused to think:

What the heck did I just see?

AND who are these kids' art teacher cuz she needs to do SOMETHING. 

And that's when I realize...oh yeah. It me.

Now I've chatted MANY times about watercolor before. Having seen so much in my 25 years in the art room, I was always trying something new. So I can assure you, these are my sure-fire wins. 

As far as supplies goes, I have my list of favorite things right here, just for you! Now, like I mention in the video, I do work with Prang so that's why my supply list is Prang heavy. HOWEVER...they are also the only brand on the market that sells refills! And sells those empty trays (which I pushed hard for! So I hope you love 'em!) so...there's that.

Now I will be coming at you later this week with my very favorite watercolor art lessons. Watercolor is the perfect thing this time of year: it's low mess/low stress and everyone loves it! That is...if you give these tips and tricks a try.

And if you're still in the mood to fine tune your art teacherin' world, might I recommend this book? Last summer, I sold out! Which I think is because...summer is when everyone starts thinking about ways to improve their upcoming school year. 

ALSO...did you know that if you and your friends do a book study of my book, you can reach out to me for a zoom chat? Yep! I've done many with school districts and it's always a blast! I'm at cassieart75@gmail.com.

Happy May, friends!

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DIY: Let's All Go to the Art Room! Prints, Posters and More

Hey, y'all! Me and my super happy and excited art supplies are thrilled to announce that A. I actually made a wee bit of headway on a project that I started in, er, JANU-FREAIN'-ARY and B. you can purchase prints (and more!) of these fellas over on Society6! 

So I've had it in my oversized and vacant head for a while that I wanted to create my own fabric. But I'm so stinkin' low tech that for me that currently means drawing my ideas out by hand and painstakingly painting them in. The hubs has been telling me for months that I outta scan in my designs and alter them that way but, y'all. This old dawg isn't down with new tricks. Tho I am suriouzly thinking that is the way I've gotta go if I ever do wanna transform these lil drawings of mine into something other than paintings. So! If y'all have any advice on scanners/drawing tablets/photoshop vs. adobe, that'd be greatly appreciated. 

But! That's not why I'm here today! I'm hear to share with you what I have managed to accomplish: finishing of a wee series that I've titled Let's All Go to the Art Room inspired by this gem...

Bring back memories, y'all? Puts me in the mind of those summer nights, swatting at mosquitoes, falling asleep in the backseat while watching a double header at the drive-in movie. 

Being all kinds of old school, you can see my slow process of sketching and painting. You can also see that I use our dinner plates as a palette. Which is why the hubs is always suggesting we go out to dinner. Surely there's some nutritional value in paint, amirite? Some folks are just such picky eaters. 

Tho, truth be told, I do love the process of sketching, erasing and drawing again. Would I love it as much on a tablet? I dunno. 

You know, it's a sad thing about glue bottles. They always start their lives this happy...until they get a lil "congested" and a kid decides to stab the end of a pair of scissors into their heads. Tis the reason we don't use glue bottles in my room, y'all, nuthin but glue cups and crappy paint brushes for our glue applicatin'.

Oh, look. It's said glue-stabby scissors. This painting went thru a coupla color changes. Initially the handle was a dark blue...I'm happy with the lighter color. 

Everyone loves a brand new box o' crayons. We don't use 'em much in my art room but I do seem to get tons of donations of them. I have a rarely used cabinet full of them! Time to bust out the encaustic crayon melter and make some masterpieces!

Another big influence on this project of mine? One of my faves: Katy Perry. 

So, lil known secret: the hubs and I are pretty big Katy Perry fans. Actually, my husband is the one who loves her so (I do believe there might be a KP calendar hanging in his office? I don't ask) and turned me on to this video. I could watch it all stinkin' day. I loved the 80's references, the Pee Wee Herman lookalike dancers, the Mondrian HAIR and, of course, these guys...

 Tell me I'm not alone in my KP love, y'all. What, you got a problem with it? Then, just, deal.

If you are interested, you can order prints from my Society6 shop! Are y'all familiar with Society6? It's AWESOME! All you have to do is upload your high resolution work, select how you want to have your work reproduced (prints, mugs, t-shirts...it's like an adult ArtSonia for those of y'all familiar) and you receive a small portion of the profit. You get to decide just how much you'll earn based on how much you charge. I'm trying to keep the prices as low as possible...so I most def won't be making too much. But I'm more interested in sharing my silliness with y'all not making retirement cash! Society6 processes the order, prints, packages and ships. After having used etsy for so long (and loving it), I do like that this is so hassle free. 

By the way, I've got several more art supplies to this Let's All Go to the Art Room series so I'll keep you posted. ALSO...you'll see my Mary Blair-inspired piece that will be featured in the book If Picasso had a Zoo! More on that excitingness soon (hoping to get my copy of the book next week to share with y'all!). 

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