1st grade ladybugs Art By Me project

First grade just finished up their ladybugs for Art By Me.  It's taken us a little longer to finish this year with all the special extra things going on in my schools.  Some classes have had field trips and we've also had music programs they've needed to practice for so we're finally getting things finished up for the fundraiser this year.  Art By Me money is used to purchase supplies for art that I may not normally be able to afford with my normal budget.  One of the things like to purchase is Crayola Color sticks.   They're so much easier to use than crayons or colored pencils and the vibrance of the colors is just fantastic.  We used them for our haunted house project that I posted earlier this week.  Here's the link in case you missed them:

http://criscoart.blogspot.com/2014/10/happy-haunts-in-4th-grade.html

Enjoy a few pics of these sweet ladybugs!

Happy Haunts in 4th grade

This project has always been one of my favorites!  We draw the whimsical houses step by step, and students loved the fact that their houses did not have to be perfectly straight! 

Art classes for adults too!

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of teaching some fantastic new "students!"  I set up a temporary studio, complete with stools, easels, and plenty of extra lighting.

Please excuse the baby, he was helping us set up that day! ;)

We also added a touch of decor here and there to make it feel artsy...

...and once the "students" arrived we dove right into painting!  

I had to take a picture of the beautiful purple shade of our water jars before they turned into yucky mud. :)

Putting in the background with purple...

I missed taking pictures of a few of the steps, but after the background we painted the pumpkin using a blend of orange, yellow, and red, then added our swirls in red while it was still wet. 

While our pumpkin dried, we created a not-so-perfect (on purpose!) pattern of black and white lines along the bottom...

Then topped it off with a whimsical stem and stitching details!  They all turned out so unique and beautiful!!

I hope to post more pictures from future classes as well!

4th grade chameleons

4th grade is finishing up these fantastic chameleons this week!  We drew our chameleons by picking out the basic shapes, such as a triangle for the head.  Then we discussed their environment and the different types and textures of foliage we could include.  I gave them color wheels and briefly discussed patterns before turning them loose with paint!