Time For A Giveaway!

Inspried by the pages of my sketchbook (completed for Sketchbook Project 2011), I have embarked on a new series of artwork! Using watercolor paint and fabric scraps, I have created an Abstract Landscape Collage. The best part is I would like to give one to you!

All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me what you do - I would love to know; are you a brain surgeon? A trash collector? A teacher?

...And I will pick a winner. The winner will get a 6x8 collage similar to the design below:

To purchase this Collage (or to check out others like it) please visit my

Etsy Shop!

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Making Art Interactive!

When teaching younger students about sculpture using found objects, I like to use an interactive display that I created. To start I show the students an image of Picasso's She-Goat and explain that he created his sculpture using objects he found in the yard next door. I Show them the objects list and have one student at a time come up and guess which object he used to create which part of his goat. Pieces are attached with velcro and move easily from one board to the next. The students really love this activity and it makes learning hands on!

Picasso's She-Goat

Found Object List

Empty Goat waiting to be filled with found parts

Goat with all of his parts!!

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Grandma Moses Landscape

The 2nd grade students loved learning about Grandma Moses. Grandma Moses, remains one of the most recognized and beloved American painters. Although she did not paint until 1927, at age sixty-seven, within years she had achieved fame. This lesson is great for teaching about Foreground, Middleground, and Background, as well as drawing people and trees.

Materials

White Drawing Paper
Pencil
Crayon
White Paint

Motivation
Students discuss their typical snow day before viewing Grandma Moses' artwork.

Procedure
Day 1
1. Draw a Horizon Line.
2. Draw trees. For the first tree I had the students follow along with me as I drew. I explained that there were many ways to draw trees and that my way was just one. They could add additional trees anyway they liked.
3. Add people
4. Add winter details - scarves, hats, snowtubes, sleds, etc.

Day 2
Students colored their drawings completely with crayon. Before they began, we discussed coloring the sky until it meets the horizon line and why we would do this.
When students were all done coloring, they used white paint to add snow to the sky and tree branches.  

Student Work

Modern Details!! This is a snowmobile!

Detail of Snow Tube!

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Dinosaur Sculptures are Done!

4th Grade Dinosaur sculptures are finally done! I posted the first part of the lesson here: Dinosaur Drawings. Our next step was to create our small dinosaur models using recycled toilet paper rolls and newspaper.

Materials

Toilet Paper Rolls
Newspaper
Masking Tape
Art Paste for Paper Mache

Brown Craft Paper (or Brown Paper Bags)

Acrylic Paint

Procedure

1. Create an armature for your dinosaur using paper rolls, newspaper and masking tape

          *longer dinos- tape two paper rolls together

          *dino heads - crumble newspaper into a ball and tape with masking tape.

          *Spikes, horns, etc can be made from newspaper or cereal boxes.

          *legs - roll newspaper and attach with tape to back of dino.

2. Cover dino completely with 2 layers of Paper Mache (Art paste and Newspaper).

This took 2 class periods.

3. Cover dino completely with a 3rd layer of paper mache, this time using brown craft paper. I like the brown craft paper because it makes the dino sturdier and paint shows up better. This took 1 class period.

4. Last step is to paint the dinos. I instructed the students to paint their dinosaur in the same colors as the dinosaur in their original drawing.

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4th Grade Dinosaur Sculptures!

4th Grade students are just starting their Dinosaur Sculptures! This is one of my favorite lessons. 4th graders loves dinosaurs and have enough skill to successfully create a wonderful paper mache sculpture!!

Materials
"The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins"
Paper
Pencils
Crayons
Dinosaur Books

Procedure

Day 1 - I begin this lesson by reading the book "The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins." Hawkins was one of the first to create a full sized dinosaur sculpture.

The story explains how Hawkins began each Dinosaur sculpture with a drawing. He then created a small clay model before beginning his life-size model. Students will be completing steps 1 & 2.  

I borrowed several books from the library and each student chose their own Dinosaur. Students then completed their own drawing of their dinosaur using crayon.

Next, we will start our sculptures!!

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