STUDENT ART

Monet - Japanese Bridge at Giverny 

Watercolor study by 3rd graders

Process: 

Watch Videos about Monet

Teach from Powerpoint lesson and demonstration

1. Watercolor bottom of page with blues purples and greens allowing spots to blend slightly

2. Watercolor top of page with greens for trees and blues for the sky

3. Add the bridge with a black or dark blue oil pastel. Practice a pivot motion arch from the elbow

4. Add green oil pastel lily pads 

5. White paint and tip of brush lilies added to pads. 

6. Mount and display.

This is the page by page powerpoint instructions in picture form for the Collage Nature Journals. This lesson was developed for 3rd and 4th graders. Please use all credits attached to this presentation if you are going to share with a class of your own. Many students attend school without a dedicated art teacher and getting them to create is an important task. This is one project that encompasses a variety of techniques and supplies but lends to a creative individualized project that all children will succeed in creating. 

7/25/2016 Art and Importance in Education - Good Read

Power of Paint

Carla Sonheim Video art lessons for Kids Art Week July 2016

In the interest of sharing fun art programs for children, check out this link and Carla's amazing work!

This is for July 2016 a week long art course in videos for kids! Perfect!

Check it out and sign up for FREE: Carla Sonheim Kids Art Week 

Following a lengthy discussion about why my art journals look the way they do and how do I know how to accomplish that...my simple answer was "layers." We do a lot of art together, my son and I and on a few occasions he has used it as an expressive form of clearing his mind. Throwing paint and splattering was a response to not getting things perfect in his mind and this was something quite different. 

I had gone up to my art room for the night and decided it was time to be alone and create something. Not two minutes later who is in my room? You guessed it! "Mom, I just want to do art with you." 

So a little distracted I laid down on the floor to explain layers and what resulted was well worth laying on the floor and not accomplishing any of my own art. 

Layers. The answer is layers.  Paint makes a great first layer by scraping it. I talked about colors and handed him a color wheel. I told him complimentary colors and tertiary colors worked well together. After looking at the wheel for a few minutes he chose red and green and yellow and purple. Each one I dripped a little paint out and let him spread it with the credit card method. Surprised to see how fast scraped paint dried, he continued adding colors until he had a composition he liked.  He had the biggest smile. It was soooo worth it!  

Next I talked about papers and texture. He ripped text and music papers saying he didn't like the straight edges so he ripped all the way around them. He placed them where he decided they should go and glued them with mod podge to the page. He sealed the edges in as well and asked for the black smudgy pencil...Enter the Stabilo Marks All Aquarellable Pencil.  The kid shades like a pro.  A little pencil and little water, a little smudge. Great. 

Next is the black and purple script Stamping up stamp.  He lightened it all up with some gesso and added washi tapes. The tape didn't stand out enough so he chose to draw around the circles with the pencil. He stamped his words with letters, and glued on the little metal embellishments. Proud, yes. Happy, definitely. My take away "See how well things turn out when you listen to step by step and I can show you?"..."Lets make that the way homework is from now on." 

This was deemed his first "successful journal page."  His other take away was that "Mom, now I know why you like to do art like this. It takes away all the bad. It just makes you feel happy about everything." 

DING! DING! DING!   We have a winner!!! 

2 27 2015    Art Day at School

This project was not my original idea, but I did help with the prep and presentation and I LOVED making one as well. Just wanted to share. Forget me nots..State flower of Alaska (where the teacher is from) and the concept of glass with tissue paper stained glass window with no messy glue.  This project was done in an advanced 3rd grade class but could be modified for any age. The kids LOVED it as well. A small lesson was presented about how glass was formed from sand, when it was started years ago and used for simple tools, then windows, to tell stories and then into cathedrals and tiffany type glass.

1. Cut out forget me not outlines from a copied print out.
2. Attach them face down onto one side of the sticky side of the contact paper.
3. Cut black construction paper lines to emulate the lead.
4. Use only blue tissue in the forget me nots.
5. Fill in the other sections with tiny cut pieces of colored tissue paper. Mine are kind of large and not a ton of colors. I completed this on the fly while also helping with the kids.
6. Remove the rest of the backing from the contact paper and fold it over the back so it has contact paper on both sides.
7. Cut out a black construction paper frame.
8. Hang in a window and enjoy the oooh's and aaaah's from the simplicity yet beauty and time of this project.

Next time I would take a little more time and cut the black lines so they don't go into the flower petals. Again..this was the 5 minute version.