Art Teacherin' 101: My Favorite Watercolor Paints!

 One question I get A LOT is about supplies...what supplies are the best to order? It's scary, putting in a supply order! We have such little money we don't want to waste it! You can check out some posts about my favorite art supplies to order here. In this video, I'll even walk you thru some of my favorite things for my art room. These posts are a couple years older and definitely need an update but many of my fave things remain the same. Especially my fave watercolor paints. 

 Only with quality watercolor paints will you get beautiful paintings! That and teaching kids HOW to use watercolor paints correctly. If you lurk this blog, you'll find plenty of posts of me teaching my students how to use their paint the right way to create amazing masterpieces. THIS LESSON (arrow pointing up) will be posted here super soon!

So...instead of typing it all out, I thought I'd create a video to share my favorite paints with you, all available in your favorite art supply catalog. This is NOT a sponsored post...so you know I'm speakin' the truth!

I'm so thankful for companies that continue to make quality art supplies for kids. Our young artists deserve the best!

Here's me explaining how to paint to my small friends. 

What are your fave watercolor paints?

In the Art Room: Chris Uphues Lesson for All!

 Hey, friends! A while ago, I created a Chris Uphues-inspired video for my sub to use. Because my classes are either 30 minutes in length or an hour, the video is broken up a bit. For example, as you watch, you'll see that my 30 minute kids learn about Chris and then do some sketching on dry erase boards before tackling paper. My older kids did this too...and then about 30 minutes in, met on the floor again to view the rest of the video. As I've said before, I LOVE having my students sketch on dry erase boards...it's their favorite because of the slick and forgiving surface. And it's mine as it uses less frustration and time with erasing and reworking. Here's that sub video...feel free to use it in your art teacherin' world. All I ask is that you give credit to lil ole me when you share your student's work or resources. 

Side Note: Jen and Chris Uphues are some of my most favorite folks on the planet. You'd be hard pressed to find two kinder or more down to earth people. I LOVE introducing them to my kids because I know that these are some seriously AMAZINGLY good people. And I'm super judge-y so you know I'm tellin' ya'll the true (insert winky-tongue face emoji). 

Meeting them this fall was one of the highlights of my school year!

When I initially created the lesson, I wasn't sure how I wanted the kids to finish their work...just this week did we dig the drawings back up and I started letting my early finishers work on them. All my kids are in the middle of some big projects that they all seem to finish at totaly different speeds. So this lesson has been a fun and quick in-between project. They kids love drawing these funny faces!

FOR THE FREE DOWNLOADABLE IDEA SHEETS, JUST CLICK HERE! 

FOR THE FREE HEART SHEET, CLICK HERE!

Have fun! 

DIY: Latch Hook, Needlepoint and Perler Beads Yayoi Kusama!

 If interested, you can pick up your Yayoi Kusama needlepoint, latch hook, cross-stitch and plastic canvas design in my Etsy shop, right here! 

Well, I finally finished my Yayoi Kusama latch hook design shortly before heading to Atlanta with some art teacher friends to see her exhibit Infinity Mirrors. You.Guys. If you ever get the chance to see it, you must go! During the four hour car ride to Atlanta, I started working on the plastic canvas of my design, making some alterations as I went. Can you see the difference? Fuller hair on the right side and a more narrow face. I'm pleased with both but the design on the right is the one that you'll find in my etsy shop. Feel free to alter when you are creating your own Yayoi!

While creating the latch hook, I decided to watch the documentary on Yayoi that you can find on Amazon. I'm so glad I did. To be honest, prior to watching, all I knew about her was that she loved spots and painted them on pumpkins. That's not at all what she's about! Seeing her history and growth as an artist in the documentary really made me appreciate her work and the exhibit all the more. 

Each of my designs looks a little different as I'm not approaching them in the same way. In my Frida design, she's very symmetrical, Andy's turned a 3/4 turn (not easy to achieve in a latch hook, y'all!) and Yayoi is forward facing but not symmetrical. 

This design also has a super limited palette which I like...I feel like the bold and contrasting colors really capture what Yayoi is all about.

 And here's my group all together! I've got one more spot on this rug and my plan is to add Jean Michel Basquiat to the mix. Then I hope to continue with more, adding more familiar and artsy faces to the group. My vision is one big ole artist shaggy wallhanging!

 If you follow me on Instagram, then you saw me overshare my experiences at the exhibit. Sorry not sorry bout it.

 We had such a fun time! MAYBE a little too much fun but what happens amongst art teacherin' friends, stays amongst art teacherin' friends, okay?

 We hit up IKEA while in Atlanta and I picked up some Perler beads. I've never used these before...so this was my first attempt. Sadly my set didn't have a skin color for Yayoi so I went with white. This is the back.

And here's the front. I messed it up pretty badly...so may redo when I get the proper skin tone. But it was fun to play around with! If you tweak my pattern a pinch, you could do a version of this too!

Happy latch hookin'! 

In the Art Room: Top 14 Favorite Valentine's Day Lessons

Well, hello lovies! In this blog post, I thought I'd share with you 14 of my very favorite Valentine's Day inspired lessons...perfect for these chilly and cold months. Let's let warm fuzzies abound in the art room! 

To find the lessons, just follow the link. Many of them have a video to share with your kids. Also...several of them are sub plan videos! Perfect if you have to take a day. I know I could use one. 

First up are these sweet Jim Dine-inspired heart sculptures created by my second graders. We used Celluclay and aluminum foil to make these beauties and the kids loved making them. 

Next up are these amazing LOVE prints created by my first graders. We chatted about Robert Indiana before diving into these. We had a whole lotta printmaking fun with this one. 

Last year, I did this lesson with my second graders. They were able to choose their own "kind" four letter word (we had: nice, kind, love, glow, hope, good, etc.) and used strips of paper to create the letters. Those turned out so fun. 

First grade artists created these huge Romero Britto-inspired hearts last year with bleeding tissue paper and paint sticks. We made these on huge 18" square sheets of paper. 

Speaking of first grade, here's a peak at what mine are working on right now...weaving! Heart weavings that we'll put together to create a faux quilt. This is one of my favorite lessons but mostly because I do love to teach weaving. 

Chris Uphues is one of my very favorite contemporary artists to share with my kids because 1. he's the nicest and 2. his artwork speaks to them. It's so happy! My students adored this lesson a couple years ago! 

If you need a quick one-day lesson that will introduce your kids to a new artist, you might want to try this one on for size. It's inspired by J. Goldcrown and all you need is black paper and chalk for amazing results. 

One year, we were inspired by Peter Anton's fake food sculptures to make some box of chocolates of our own. Third grade thought this was the coolest project ever. 

If you are like me, you do long art lessons...and then need a shorter one to pick up momentum again. I think my students might be the same way. This lesson is a quicker with beautiful results. Here's what we did with the paper after we cut the hearts how: filled them with a video of tissue paper!

And here's what we did with the hearts we cut out. So cute, right? 

This lesson is similar to the first I shared except that there are wings added with plaster. I'm thinking of doing this lesson with my third graders super soon...just need to work out the specifics...but I'm sure they will love it. Video details and more here. 

Need a sub plan? I did this Romero Britto inspired collaborative with my kids when I was out on jury duty. Lesson and video right here. 

Need something big and happy to spread the love? My kids EACH contributed to the Our School has Heart mural. Visit this post to see what each different grade level created for this mural from embroidery to painting to sculpture and needle felting! 

My fourth graders tackled this lesson a couple years ago right after they finished the following sculpture lesson...

Boy did we have a ball with this lesson! A super fun sculpture project for the kiddos. 

This lesson I created a little while back for my kindergarten and first graders. We loved the printed hearts and the fun guided drawing animals. Video lessons for each critter. 

Looking for a fun way to introduce your kids to four contemporary artists who use hearts in their work? This video lesson just might be for you!

Oh! And if you are looking for something to do with your faculty and staff to bring the love, you might want to check out these our Clay Hearts with Wings...a huge hit with my coworkers. Video too!

Okay, y'all...that was WAY more than 14 projects so have fun! 

In the Art Room: My Favorite Winter Art Lessons

Hey, friends! If the winter weather is causing you to have brain freeze and you are stumped for ideas on art lessons, I've put together this HUGE blog post filled with my favorite winter art lessons. Many of them also include instructional video...this way if you are out sick or find yourself feeling a little under the weather, you can simply have me be your art teacherin' sub. All I ask in return is that if you post projects that your students have created, inspired by my lessons, you give me a shout out. It's always nice to give art teachers credit for their lessons...especially when they share them for free as I'm doing here. I also LOVE to reshare your projects on my Instagram which would gain your more followers. So it's a win-win!

The Heather Galler coffee cups were created by my second graders some years ago and they are still a fave lesson of mine. You can find the details here. 

A HUGE hit with my students and other art teachers has been this Jen Aranyi inspired winter landscape. For this lesson, I created a video to share with you. My third graders really loved this project. 

I really am a sucker for black glue and chalk pastel, y'all. Each one of these fourth grade pieces was a stunner...and such a great lesson on using a new supply and color theory. Lesson with video here.

 This second grade selfie lesson introduced my students to the world of printmaking! We had a blast creating these prints for our hats and mittens. Complete lesson here.

In need of some lessons for the kindergarten crowd? This one was a hit with mine...video lesson here! 

Speaking of kindergarten...here is a winter landscape lesson that I've done with them for years. It teaches tint and shades as well as collage. You can find it here.

 My first graders were big fans of this project! Video and lesson details right here.

As my fourth graders wrap up this lesson, lemme tell you, the results have been amazing and it's quickly becoming my new fave project! More details with video here!

 Mural making is one of my fave things to do during these winter months. It brings us all together! You can find the details on this one here. 

This light up mural with ice skaters drawn by my fourth graders here.

And our very first mural collaboration from a while back, right here!

 Printing on fabric, making clay beads AND learning to sew?! YES this was a winner with the kids! All the details here. 

I LOVE metal relief projects...they are always a show stopper. I created these with my fourth graders a while back and they were a hit. Lesson here.

Need some more lessons? Check out THIS POST with five quickie winter projects! 

Also, be sure to check out this blog post for even more fun winter art lessons. Stay warm out there!