Let's Make a Mother's Day Masterpiece!

Need a fun and easy project for Mother's Day? Here you go! Grab some paper, pencil, marker, permanent marker, paintbrush and water and I'll show you how to make this masterpiece in this short three-minute video! 

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Let's Make an Optical Illusion Heart!

Need a fun and easy project that would be perfect for Mother's Day? How about this Optical Illusion Heart? All you'll need are the following:

* Paper
* Markers
* Black Crayon
* Pencil
* Cup of Water
* Paintbrush
* Table salt

Let's go!

Have fun!

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In the Art Room: Heather Galler Inspired Bouquets by Second Grade

 Hello, friends! I'm here today to do some oversharing of my second grade masterpieces as they are giving me so much LIFE! Both my young artists and I are beyond excited with how our Heather Galler-inspired masterpieces have turned out. These works of art are HUGE as we created them on 18" X 24" tagboard. I cannot wait to share them at our upcoming art show. Here's the video lesson I created for y'all to explain the process:

I only see my second grade kiddos for 30 minutes, twice a week. On our first day together, we managed to knock this out:

 This lesson could easily be done on a much smaller scale. However, while going through our pieces for the art show, I realized that my students had yet to do a BIG show stopper. Many of the second grade works of art were on the smaller side. I knew I wanted one piece that they would be super proud of. So this big masterpieces were destined to happen.

As y'all know, I have a slight bingo dauber addiction. I have created so many lessons based on my new favorite art room tool! You can find lessons where my third grade students created our school mascot; my first graders created Britto hearts and my kindergarten kids created pigeons and TWO alphabet paintings which can be found here and here. 

 On our second 30 minute art class, we started to add color to the flowers with both our florescent oil pastels (my favorites are made by Sargent) and liquid watercolor. I don't normally bust out the liquid watercolor but for this big scale, I knew my pan watercolors would just not do. 

 The following two art classes, we wrapped these bad boys up. The kids were THRILLED with their hard work! And so was I.

 But, like I said, this project would have worked out just as beautifully on a smaller scale. In fact, I'm so tempted to do the same lesson with my fourth grade students!

 Some of my students decided to leave their tables or vases unpainted and black and white. I loved their work no matter what they decided.

 These paintings were so much fun to create....we played loud music and even did a little dancing while painting. Who wouldn't be happy while working on these. If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen my kiddos in action. 

 Our art show is now a little over a month away. I will be keeping you posted on our progress. These will be such a beautiful addition to our show!

 When working so large, my students really had to spread out. 

 Can we talk paper for a hot second? I LOVE tagboard, it can easily withstand the weight of the ink that we filled the bingo daubers with as well as the watercolor paint.

 As did the poster board. The only problem was that the shiny side of the poster board did not take to the paint as well as the matte side. Just something to keep in mind. 

 Of course, those kind of papers can be costly. So I would recommend 80lbs. paper. That's what I always order in reams of 500.

 As far as watercolor paint goes, I have found that the paint I get from Sax works just as well as the other brands...I've yet to find a favorite as each is very vibrant. How about y'all?

 I get A LOT of questions about the bingo daubers...y'all! They are my fave but are probably on backorder everywhere as I've told everyone to get some. Try just searching "bingo daubers"on The Google and see what pops up. I fill mine with diluted India ink...I have no favorite brand of ink, they all seem to be great. 

 LOVE to know if you are doing this lesson. Please be sure and tag me if you share on social media!

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In the Art Room: Heather Galler Inspired Bouquets with Second Grade

 As we draw toward the end of the school year (okay, I know I'm early BUT in "art teacher years" a couple of months means time for just a handful of projects until the end!), I am thinking about ART.SHOW. Like, 24/7. And my art show isn't until MAY 15TH! I'm trying my hardest NOT to be my usual procrastinating self. So I've been pulling out grade level artwork and seeing what masterpieces we have to hang (we hang everything...if you search "art show" in that search bar on the right, you'll get a taste of our art shows). In doing so, I noticed that my second graders didn't have that one BIG masterpiece. So I pulled out the bingo daubers (yet again) and some huge tagboard and we created these! We did the drawing portion in the first 30 minute art class and we are slowly adding color. These are not finished yet...but the lesson has been so fun that I thought I'd share it with you as we make progress. Here's the lesson video:

For this lesson, we are using our bingo daubers filled with slightly diluted India ink, oil pastels and liquid watercolor. To finish, we'll simply be painting the flowers and the backgrounds...with the option to add color to the vase and table. I rather like the black and white because I find it to be a beautiful balance with all of the color but I'll let the artists decide.

 After our first 30 minutes. It wasn't really a guided drawing...more of a "here's how you can draw some flowers and here's how you can draw some vases and patterns...go to town." We never use pencils first, we just go for it. If they painted something they didn't love, they had to wait until next art class to try again on the back of the paper. This tag board was thick enough for them to do that. The reason I have them wait is because they usually forget about it as they move on. Also...if one kiddo starts over, THEY ALL WANNA START OVER. So, I nip that in the bud.

 Today we began adding color with oil pastels and watercolor paint. It's a big task as the papers are huge. We literally spread all out over the room because only two to three kids can work at a table at a time due to the size. 

 I don't have a favorite liquid watercolor, do you? I find that they are all pretty fantastic. Except the fluorescent ones. They universally stick. 

 I don't dilute my liquid watercolors much...I love how vibrant they are!

I got the great idea from Katie Allain (@mrsallainart on IG) to put my watercolor paint in these color coded cupcake liners to eliminate the guesswork! 

 I'll be sure to do a follow up post on these once complete. I'm so excited! They make my heart happy. 

 Also...this is now my fourth bingo dauber project! The only grade who has not worked with them is fourth and I totally have a project lined up for them using these bad boys. They my fave this year!

 

Are you a bingo-dauber-aholic like me?! I wanna know what you and your young artists have created!

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In the Art Room: Folk Art Still Life Inspired by Kerri Ambrosino

 Next week, I'll be heading to the Big Apple for the NAEA convention (you can check out the dates/times/topics I'll be presenting and co-presenting here). In preparation, I've been working on my sub plans which, as you know, is always a really good time. Because I'll be presenting on folk art, I decided to base my sub plans around that theme. In particular, my students will be learning about the Mexican folk artist Kerri Ambrosino. 

I'm a sucker for color and pattern. I am using her work to also reteach the elements of art and introduce the principals of art. While I am gone, my students will tackle the first half of the sub plan video and we'll do the rest together when I return. Cuz there ain't no way those kids are using puffy paint without me! I'll be doing this lesson with all grades. When I create sub plan videos, I often do this because it is so much easier for the sub. They become experts at the lesson and don't feel flustered going from one lesson to the next, switching out visuals and supplies. A Happy Sub means Fewer Flubs! Here's the sub video. Feel free to use in your art teacherin' adventures:

Supplies needed:

* Popsicle sticks. I have ONE TRIZILLION popsicle sticks. I always get them donated and I never know what to do with them...until now. Of course, they aren't necessary for this project but they do add a fun three-dimensional element. 

* Matte board/cardboard. This will hold the weight of the sticks. I have a surplus of card and matte board as well so this was a good way to use that up. I cut it 4" X 7".

* Construction paper.  In various colors, also cut to 4" X 7" to serve as the background.

* Scrap papers. For the vase and flowers.

* Foam flowers. Again, another art room surplus. Let's use 'em up! They'll also add that fun third dimention.

* Puffy Paint!

 While I'm away, I hope that the students will get all of their sticks decorated and glued to their background. For my 30 minute classes, they might only get the sticks complete. For my hour long classes, they should have no problem knocking that out. We are also creating large scale flower still lives for teacher appreciation...so my early finishers start on that with their decorated strip for the table. 

 Kerri's work is just wonderful! I love everything about it and I think my students will as well. I'm excited about these small masterpieces. They'll make a great addition to our art show and the perfect presents for Mother's Day...which I know is far off but I always procrastinate. Not this time!

 I will be certain to share a follow-up blog post.

If you give this lesson a go, I'd love to know! Special thanks to my P.E. buddy Ali for working out the kinks of this project with me. 

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