In the Art Room: Painted Trees (A Work in Progress)

So I thought I'd share with you a project that we just started this week and isn't quite finished yet. Usually I post projects once they're complete...but I've noticed when I peruse art blogs, I like to see Works in Progress (WIP. WIP it good). It kinda helps me wrap my brain around the steps of the lesson and the time it took to complete. Because, when I see these awesome projects posted on my fave art blogs (check out these nominations on The Art of Education for a killer list of art teacher-y blogs), I sometimes feel a little overwhelmed and get that "my kids could never do that" feeling in my gut. But that could be the indigestion from all those bowls of butter noodles and cereal (go here if you need a reference to that not-so-funny inside joke).

So, without further ado-do, I present to you my second grade students Painted Trees Project which is currently a Work in Progress.

Disclaimer: I ALMOST didn't post this photo because it looks like such a hot mess. The messy table, the grimy water cup, that Dirty Ole Sponge Bob and the sad state of the watercolor tray. Not to mention the rando cups of paint stacked on the table. But, even though the photo is embarrassing for me, I thought you should see it for a coupla reasons:

1. You don't need the World's Cleanest Art Room to create the World's Greatest Art. Like you, when I get to school in the morning, I don't stop running around and preparing supplies until the kids walk in the door. And by then, I'm usually exhausted by all the paper cutting/paint preparing/clay wedging/and coffee making (because without that none of the aforementioned would be possible). My goal is to have all the supplies accessible and ready. Bright and shiny clean is not tops priority for creating...in my room anyway. That being said, I am beyond grossed out by those cups and sponges and will be cleaning 'em in all my spare time.
2. I love to see how art teachers set up their tables. So I thought I'd share how I set up for watercolor painting...even if it looks like a disaster. I use that styro tray to hold the paint, non spill water cup (best invention ever), and a Dirty Ole Sponge Bob (that's what we call him) to dry our brushes on. Because the students were using warm or cold colors to paint their skies, I like to have the watercolors organized in ROY G. BIV fashion so the kids can easily look down and see that the warm colors are the first three colors in the rainbow and the cool are the last three. Now, I did remove green and replace it with magenta for two reasons. I didn't want them to add green all over their skies (call me a control freak, I've been called worse) and I wanted them to know that magenta could be used with a warm or cool palette. See, there is a method to my messiness.
3. When you have 4, 30 minute back-to-back classes with each working on a different project, you end up with a variety of supplies on your tables. Hence the cups of paint. That would be for a 1st grade project I'll share with you in the future. 

Now, let's chat about supplies for a moment. I used to hate teaching watercolor to the children because I couldn't find a decent set of paints. Or brushes. And it was frustrating for me and the kids when their end result wasn't as amazing as they'd hoped. Now I've got the good stuff. Put this on your next supply order:

Crayola's Watercolor Mixing Set Yes, they're more expensive than their regular watercolor paint. But so worth it. I mean, look at those colors! 

Royal and Langnickel Paint Brushes So soft you'll catch the girls pretending they are make up brushes and putting imaginary blush on their cheeks. Or non-imaginary paint all over their face. Not that that has ever happened in my room. Ahem.

Okay, let's chat about this lesson. I started with flashcards with words that pertained to the lesson such as: watercolor, paint, brush stroke, warm colors, cool colors, sumi-e, Japan, Asia, etc. As the children entered my room, they read these words to me even if we hadn't discussed their meaning yet. This is an adjusted version of my vocabulary post that you can read here. Once inside, we gathered around a table to watch a demonstration. I told the kids that making art was all about making choices and that today, as artists, they had many to make:

Which direction will I format my paper, vertically or horizontally? 

I am creating a sky scape. What time of day do I want to paint?

Will my sky have a sun, moon or neither? 

What size sun or moon will I have?

If I am making a moon, what phase will it be in?

Would I like to paint with all warm or all cool colors?

What kind of brush strokes could I use?

I know, a lot to think about, right? AND in 20-ish minutes once they returned to their seats. I did a quick demo as a reminder on how to properly paint with watercolor. Here's what I tell 'em:

It's called watercolor paint because you gotta add water. Place a couple of drops of water into each little pan.

Your paintbrush is like a ballerina...she always paints on her tiptoes. She never ever scoots around on her bottom. Because that would be ridiculous and unattractive (although mildly entertaining). 

Listen to your paintbrush. If it's making a scratching sound as it sweeps across your paper, it's thirsty. Add more paint and water. It's also telling you it's thirsty when you see scratchy brush strokes. Give that ballerina a drink!

I then showed them a wee demo on wet into wet/wet into dry. Then I hurried 'em back to their seats so they could actually begin.

At the end of the first 30 minute class, most had finished their 10" X 12" paintings. And then some looked like this. Like, amazing, right? These students completed their watercolor paintings the following art class.

It was interesting to me to see how one class managed to finish in 20 minutes...meanwhile all looking strangely similar. It's funny, I didn't even do that ring-around-the-sun thing in my demo.

And other classes really slowed down and thusly this was the result at the end of the class.

These paintings were finished up on the second art class as well.

During the second 30 minute art class, those that were not finished with their skies were allowed to do so. Those that were finished, moved on to adding a tree to their skies. But before we did, I chatted some about sumi-e brush painting techniques. I told the kids that they were to create a tree painting on practice paper first before attacking their painted paper. I gave them permission to paint as many of these paintings as they wanted until they created one that they were happy with. I really love these little paintings. 

During my little demo, I showed the kids how to apply pressure to their brush to create a thick line...and then slowly lifting the brush off the paper while painting the branches. This made the lines of the branches become thinner and more branch like. For the twigs, students could use itty-bitty brushes. Another tip is to have the students slowly twist the brush as they lift it off their paper which also thins the line.

I'm excited by the results of this 2, 30 minute painting lesson. But we're not finished yet...stay tuned for what happens next with these masterpieces!

In the Art Room: Art Teachers in Training!

Hey, art teacherin' buds! If you joined last week's Facebook LIVE which is archived in the link, then you know I did a feeble attempt at a Make and Take. Those who joined were gentle and kind enough to almost convince me that it wasn't a bust but I knew the truth. I LOVED the idea of a Make and Take and I really wanna make it work in the future...but that will take some work on my part. But let's focus on what we created: Art Teachers Badges!

 In a previous LIVE chat, which we do right here nearly every Wednesday night at 8pm CST (to join the chat, simply "like" my page and I'll pop up in your feed 8-ish), the idea of creating "art teacher apprentice" badges came up. I loved the idea so much, I invited everyone to join in on the makin' and the takin'. What EXACTLY is an Art Teacher Badge?!

I can only tell you how I plan to use mine: I have four tables in my art room. Each table will have what I've dubbed Art Teacher in Training. These kids are responsible for listening extra carefully to directions and answering the questions of their fellow artists at their table only. If they cannot answer the question, they are to seek out another table's "trainee" and ask them. If all else fails, FINE, you can ask me. My goal is to create an environment where I am free to spend more quality time with my students and not repeat myself 5983 times. Ahem.

How will I pick these kids? I plan to let them know that the moment they walk in my door, they are being "interviewed" based on their actions, behaviors and ability to follow our long-established but sometimes forgotten routines. I also created this video to explain to the kids just EXACTLY what the roll of the "trainee" and the rest of the class is. 

Feel free to share this video in your Land of Art Teacherin'. It's general enough that it could probably work in your setting as well. 

MANY of the fine folks that joined the chat sent me their badges and how they plan to use them. I love the creativity of seeing what everyone created and hearing how they plan to use them. I do plan to laminate mine and have them on a lanyard. 

By the way, be sure to follow these art teachers on Instagram. I've added their link if they have an account. We learn so much from one another! 

Margaret McDonald created these fun badges for her kiddos! She says: I teach Art PreK-6 at Herndon Elementary in Herndon, Virginia. My classes come once a week. I have 6 tables. Each week a different table does art room jobs. I plan to allow each weeks table to be the "art room assistants." I plan to talk them up like VIP/backstage passes since I used gold shiny paper! You can find Margaret here: My instagram @missbrightbluehue and 
My Twitter @msmcdonaldart

Darla Kendrick created these cute and colorful badges. She says: here are my Art Teacher assistant badges. I get tired of repeating my directions non-stop, even when they're written on the board!  My plan is to assign one student per group/row/area of the classroom as the Assistant. S/he will be responsible for helping students nearby until I can make my way to them. Hopefully this will eliminate the repetitive, "I wasn't listening" questions.

My art teacher insta is: @art_at_hart_on_a_cart

I teach in Bakersfield, CA. Grades TK-6, SDC and VE

Carissa Parr shared: my class is 3rd-5th grade, so I'm planning on using the Protégé badge with only the 5th graders. They'll be the go-to kids for the younger ones. The Timekeeper will help keep ME on track! The Encourager will help keep things positive, as there are a few kids that compare their work to others and end up frustrated. I teach in a homeschool co-op and we meet once a week, so most of the lessons take two weeks to finish.  The kids will keep their badges for 2 weeks and change/rotate badges at the start of a new lesson.

Amber Click says: I have created my badges, just need to laminate and get lanyards. :) I decided to go with art teacher's sidekick. Kinda like a superhero. :) I teach in Corpus Christi, Texas. Grades Pre-k through 8th grade. I plan to use these badges to cut down on the amount of times I repeat things, like "drying rack." lol I think especially for my younger kids they will love the assistant title and I hope it'll turn out to make them feel special. 

My instagram link is: www.instagram.com/art_teacherlife

Emily Burlingame says: I have 4 tables in my room and each has a rotating (weekly) job to do. One of the jobs was 'Direction Experts' (DE's). This one always seemed to get neglected... until NOW!

We went over all the jobs again and I introduced the new 'DE' badges and a reminder that this job was to be my helpers. They had to know what the directions for the day were, had to know where to get supplies and how to clean up, had to know how to be encouraging and helpful. They basically had to be mini versions of me.

They embraced it with open arms today and knocked it out of the park. Even my 3rd grade 'Bob' rocked it {this is code name for our friends who are sometimes off-task}. Told me he served 6 clients for the day! Ha! Great. And it totally freed me up to wander the room and help where needed.

So each week a different table group of students will have their own chance to help one another out!!! Yessss! Art Teacher win. Think I'll try it with my 1st-5th graders and just put the badges in the table basket that has the DE job for that day.

Emilie Jones says, I used lanyards, painted the paintbrushes with acrylic paint, and used scrapbook paper inside the badge-holder-thingy... they all have the words: TABLE LEADER in sticker letters (former scrapbooker in the house!).

I am NOT an art teacher, I'm just a parent who LOVES art, was upset that the school my son goes to does not offer art (even though the kids have LOTS of free time) so I volunteer and every Wednesday and Thursday.  I go to my son's second grade class and we do art. 

These second graders REALLY need to work on their listening skills and I ❤ed your ideas about going to the art assistant to ask for directions because i was being asked the same question like 15 times (which gets a bit annoying). I have 23 kiddos and 4 tables, so one leader per table. Today I hyped up the table leader's responsibilities and then hit up Hobby Lobby (I currently live in no-where Oklahoma and it was either that or Walmart) got the lanyards, badge holders, and brushes. 

Alexandra McBride says: here are the art expert badges I've been using since before winter break. Kiddos are LOVIN being experts! I usually pick six different kids before I start any explaining and these kids are then who all the other kids go to if they have questions. They are feeling so proud wearing them! The best part?! When I get done with directions and that one kid is like "what do I do!?" Ahhh I just breathe and say "Go find an art expert"! You can find me on Instagram @kidsgetcreative. I work at the elementary level at cherry creek schools in Colorado! 

Carol Sustaire says: I want have one badge for each of my 6 color coded tables. However I probably won't use all 6 every day. Maybe only 3 per class and they wear the badge that corresponds to their tables. 

I teach k-6 in Fort Worth TX. I introduce a lot of new ideas to these kids so I am probably going to let the kids that "catch on" first at each table get picked to be the art teacher apprentice. I may also pick based on who I think needs a boost of pride that day. 

Lindsay Lowery says: I've never done this before but it sounds like fun! I decided to keep them simple using my #artsnacks products I get in the mail each month. I plan to pick someone from each table as soon as I finish giving directions and hopefully it will be something they really enjoy. My instagram is @beakerlinz and I teach in Pflugerville, Texas K-5.

Do y'all use something like this in your art rooms? LOVE to hear how you put it into action! 

In the Artroom: A Starry Night Collage and Thoughts on Teaching Art

Friends, Ima be honest with you. I've been in a funk. It started with a sinus-y head cold that morphed into no-energy-itis which developed into a bad case of nobody-likes-me, everybody-hates-me, I'm-just-gonna-sit-over-here-and-pout. I have blamed my cold and lack of energy for my bad attitude but, if I'm being truly honest, there have actually been a couple things eating away at my thoughts. And one of them has been teaching art.

So here's the deal: I recently joined a group on Facebook called "Art Teachers". And it's pretty rad, interacting with art educators, seeing the work of their students, hearing their struggles and successes. But there have also been some, um, debates. It seems that there are two camps of art teachers out there: those that teach choice-based art and, well, those that don't.

Now before I go tip-toeing into a land mine (because those aforementioned debates have gotten very feisty), lemme first say that I am not a choice-based art teacher. Nor do I know very much about the concept although I am intrigued. From my understanding, in a choice-based art room, children are allowed to work with their chosen art media to express their ideas. In a nutshell.

Here's what I love about the idea: children creating art based on their own individual interests and inspirations. In a choice-based art room, the kids are routinely introduced to new media and allowed to explore their ideas with that new material. Or they can use whatever other supplies that have been introduced throughout the year. It sounds so happy and harmonious and free. In my imagination, it looks like a college art studio filled with little people sculpting, painting and weaving their little hearts out.

But here's the thing that bothers me: a music teacher wouldn't simply show a child a room full of musical instruments, teach them a couple of the basics and tell them to then make music. Not without first teaching them all that there is to know about playing, writing and composing a piece, not to mention introducing them to both classical and contemporary composers. Because without those fundamentals, I imagine children would simply bang on the instruments, grow bored and lose interest. Is it possible the same might happen in an art room? I don't know.

I've heard the argument that if you, as an art teacher, know what the end product of a lesson is going to look like, then the work of art is your own and not your students. This really really made me question how I teach. Am I doing a disservice to my students? Am I robbing them of their creativity and exploration? Is this Starry Night/collage/painting/weaving project recently created by 1st grade actually harming the creative exploration of my students?

 Again, I don't know.

What I do know is that, like a classroom teacher giving a test to check for hitting benchmarks and understanding, I can see that my students learned the following (side note: each "Day" is a 30 minute art class. Yes, 30-super-short/very-precious minutes):

Day #1: How to mix a shade of blue with black and blue. How to use a variety of brush strokes and lines to show movement in their sky like our inspirational artist, Vincent van Gogh. How to paint the secondary color green and create a texture onto that paper.

Day #2: How to create a landscape collage by tearing the green paper and creating a foreground, middle ground and back ground. How to create a paper loom for weaving.

Day #3: How to weave. How to use collage to create a house by cutting out geometric shapes from recycled pieces of paper. 

Day #4: How to add a star to my piece (see this post on how we marbled these stars) and have it tell a story in your work of art. Is it a shooting star? A falling star? An explosion of color? What can you think of?

Day #5: How to add that house to the landscape and add other elements of their choosing to that landscape. How to brainstorm ideas for their work of art (what can go in the background? a dog house? a neighborhood? trees?).

(Houses about half finished...still working out ideas for the background and the shooting star.)

Knowing that they have learned all of this, is this lesson a bad one? I like to think not. My students surpassed my notion of what their completed piece would look like by adding animals, trees, dog houses, houses in the distance, moons, curtains in the window, you name it.

But I did have a notion what their finished work of art would look like.

Which again, brings me back to where I started. Sigh. 

Look, I've been teaching art for a very long time (this is my 16th year, time seriously does fly!) and I'm not even going to pretend I've got the answers or even a flipping clue. And I think those folks that do think they have all the answers are just fools. Or maybe cowards that are too afraid to question what they've always done. I mean, shouldn't we always be looking to do what is best for our students?

So, I ask you, honestly, what are your thoughts?

And, if I've offended anyone, choice-based or not, that was not my intention. Thanks, ya'll.

DIY: Sushi on my Head, Sushi on my Feet, Sushi EVERYWHERE

So, I managed to score Snow Day this week, ya'll! Which, in Tennessee, means a coupla things:

1. It probably won't snow but it might snow so get yourself to the Winn-Dixie, buy all the beer and bananas that'll fit in your buggie* and drive like a crazy fool on the slightly slick roads, ya'll! 

2. Your TN friends will be blowin' up your Facebook with photos of their kids creating the World's Smallest Snowmen (complete with copious amounts of dirt and gravel), making snow angels in 1" snow (dirt -n- gravel angels to match the snowmen) and sledding. Again, in dirt and gravel. Cuz in the South we like to say, "You get whatcha get and you don't pitch a fit." This apparently applies to snow-dirt-gravel.

3.  It will more than likely be a lovely 70 degrees in just a matter of days (because TN weather is moodier than me after sobering up from a Beer/Banana Cocktail {see first footnote to understand my only slightly humorous humor}). So, for that reason, a Tennessee Snow Day is Sew-a-Sundress Day!

Since we are currently learning about Japan in art class, complete with my 1st grade friends creating a sushi collage, I thought it was about time I stitched up a Japanese-themed dress. I actually have a couple Asian-themed dresses in the works but they were placed on the back burner for my Artist of the Month dresses...which got put on the backety-back burner for my Valentines' Day number and my Dress Like a Book Character frock. Whew! Too many burners goin', ya'll! Story of my life.

For this here dress, I used the same vintage Vogue (or "Vague" as I like to call 'em) dress pattern as I did for my Crayon Dress. It's a pattern that honestly has hardly a whisper of directions, just arrows, diagrams and comments like "sew this to that and make sure it fits."

Even with those lame-o directions, this snowed-in seamstress was able to stitch it together (my apologies for the creepy speaking-in-third-person-ness). Speaking of snowed-in, that dusting of white stuff on the ground which kinda looks like I dropped a super small sack of flour? That's what we in Tennessee call SNOW. Yessur, that thar got me a day off from school and a two-hour delay the following day. Don't hate.

In my latest What I Wore post, I shared with ya this Sushi Hat that I wore for Wacky Hat Day. I had seen several images of "sushi hats" online and they looked simple enough to make. Turns out they were so easy-peasy that I even made some Sushi Shoes. Because what's better than Stinky Feet? Stinky Fishy Feet, that's what!

So just how did I make this, you ask (well, more than likely you are probably asking, "WHY did you make this" or maybe "WHY do you think I wanna know, I ain't makin' this!" to which I would respond, if you don't  have a handcrafted sushi hat and matching shoes, you just ain't livin', my friend). 

For this magical feast for the feet, you'll need some stiff sparkly felt (yes there is such a thing. My life is now complete), pompoms, tooth picks and white felt. Oh and a pair of thrift shop shoes you don't mind permanently adhering felt sushi to.

Cut a 2" strip of felt about an 1" tall. Hot glue your pompoms of choice to the end, roll it up and glue it closed.

Cut some white felt about 6" long, 1" tall. If you snip the ends, the white felt looks more like rice once it's rolled up. Wrap that a coupla times around and hot glue into place.

Like so. By the way, in each photo I had to cleverly hide my pitifully peeling thumb. This weather has my fingers cracking and nails peeling. Which means my dreams of becoming a hand/foot model are pretty much ruined. Sigh.

Oh! To finish, wrap the "sushi" in a final layer of black felt for the seaweed and glue into place.

For the sashimi, I did do a wee bit of felting so show the little lines of fat in the salmon. That was then glued to a bit of rolled up white felt and wrapped in a strip of black. I had to add a felt bit for ginger and a green lump for wasbi. Toothpicks worked best for the chopsticks on my shoes. For my hat, I used small skewer sticks.

And now a word from my boss, The Cat...

"Don't you believe for one second that this crazy lady sewed this dress herself! While she was making sushi, which, by the way, she wouldn't even let me sample!, she locked me in her sewing room and demanded I finish the hem of her dress. As you can see by the look of focus on my seriously cute kitten face, I take my job very seriously. Despite my lack of recognition by said crazy lady. Humph!"

Ahem, whatever. Don't you believe a word outta that cat's mouth! She's convinced me on more than one occasion that I've forgotten to feed her and tricked me into doubling her breakfast! She's basically a con-artist in a cute kitten suit. 

And that's all, ya'll! I hope you have a super fab weekend and I'll chat with you again at week's end!

* So I was at the grocery just a day or two before the weather hit and I noticed that there were no bananas like anywhere. And then I saw buggie (yep, that's what we call 'em down here) after buggie filled to the brim with beer and 'nanas. Is there some sort of Banana/Beer Cocktail I'm not aware of?