Tint and Shade

Art Majors have the privilege of seeing me everyday and working on a piece throughout the week. This week we began discussing shade and tint. I tried to connect that when we are in the shade it is darker, therefore when we shade a color we want to make it darker by adding black. We began by painting their entire 12 x 18 white paper with a tinted color of their choice. Day two we added trees or a tree with the same color but now a shaded version.

The last step was to add snowflakes using the original color.

Here are a few completed pictures:

Dough Salt Ornaments

The last day before any holiday break is difficult. Kids are wound up and teachers are tired. On the last day before Thanksgiving break I planned for the kids to make clay and salt dough ornaments for a local project and for themselves. Well I had it all set and prepared for 24 students and in walk about 7 students. The others had been checked out. Well those 7 students were my little elves and they worked hard to produce enough ornaments for the local project and for the others to paint and take home. I tried not baking the salt dough since I didn't want to take home that many ornaments but I am finding out that after 4 weeks of air drying they are still not completely dry. Oh, well I tried!

Chalk Pumpkins

Second grade is working on a set of three pumpkins in a pumpkin patch. We start with drawing using a pencil, then outline with a marker, and lastly add color with chalk pastels. Many people don't enjoy teaching students with pencils, but I do believe they need to learn how to take their time, fix their mistakes and move on and just enjoy it not worry that they can't erase. I would think that kids love to use chalk but many of them do not enjoy the messy process.

They are reminded over and over to blend in the colors.

Spooky Houses

The art teacher, Connie Christoph, who taught before me and also taught me when I attended Hillcrest, had us draw spooky houses, and I am continuing this tradition. I even use her pictures of spooky houses for the kids to look at and discuss what makes a house spooky looking. First grade drew the house using a black crayon and then we painted using watercolors.

Apples, Apples, Apples

Deep Space Sparkle came up with another amazing art lesson this time focusing on apples. Kindergarten was finishing up their hand print spiders, so I needed an activity to start but not take a lot of time.

My snack I used to discuss color and shape.

Used cardboard to create an apple pattern. Made sure to make them all alike, since last project kids were very picky on which pattern to use.

My example of how to mix colors on our paper not on the plate. We talk about doing the Hokey Pokey, put your brush in but DON'T move it all about.

Some kids made a new apple color.

Kindergarten Peacocks

For Kindergarten's art fundraiser I wanted to use their hand, since parents love this. After a Pinterest serach I found a peacock made with their hand and foot but since I can't have every Kinder dip their foot in paint we changed it a bit. Which after I realized made our peacock look like Perry of of Fineas and Pherb.

2nd Grade Sunsets

At the beginning of the year every grade is working on their art for the art fundraiser Art To Remember. I try to find colorful and different ideas. Second grade drew a sailboat during sunset and we used warm colors for the beautiful sunset and they looked great.