Song bird collage!

Where did the summer go?!  Our first projects of the school are well under way and they are looking fabulous!  We began the semester with painted paper collages inspired by an artist in Texas, Lisa Morales.  She creates paper painted and mixed media collages that are amazing and so beautiful.  You can check out her work here: https://www.lisamoralesmixedmedia.com/

 Painted paper collage worked well since so many students are still coming and going, schedules are still be adjusted, and other things like that.  We painted paper for a few days, using our plain white drawing paper, and also some printed pieces for a variety of textures for the feathers. If students missed one of the painted paper days, it didn't matter since I cut all of those sheets up into small squares for everyone to use.

We prepared our background for our song birds by painting with a tempera wash.  Students were amused by the history of tempera and the fact that it was once made with egg yolks!  I assured them that our version of tempera was egg free. :)  Here's a few pics of what they're creating so far.

 Painting our papers...

Dry and ready to cut...

Ready for collage!

More 3rd Dot Day Creatures

I posted a few of these last week so I'm following up with a few more!  I love how creative students got with this project!  I gave them just a few guidelines, discussing symmetry for their creature as well as that it should be made MOSTLY with dots.  At the end they could add a few non-dot details such as antennas and feet.  

This one reminds me of the Gru's dog in Despicable Me!  :)

She said, "it's a Koala bear with her baby!" I was impressed! 

I can't wait to display these!  They all turned out so awesome!

Lots o dots!

Lots of dot projects going on this week in preparation for International Dot Day! We have dots everywhere in all shape and sizes to be used for various projects.  

Scrap painted paper storage... I can't bear to waste it so we cut and cut until there's nothing left. :)

Also some trees going on in fourth grade for their dot project... I can't wait to share the final pieces!

Painted paper flowers, 2nd grade

Remember all that paper we've been painting? We are putting it to good use this week in second grade!! I love these beautiful bold flowers!!

Say CHEESEburger!!!!!!

My little Ks are finishing up their cheeseburger collages this week!!

Zebras!

This is the project that never ends!  Seems like we've been working on these zebras in kindergarten forever!  I think the end result is worth it though!  Have a look!

Each set of stripes was one lesson so you can imagine how long these took! :)

Kindergarten pumpkin mosaics

I do this project every year with kindergarten.  It's wonderful for teaching them how to properly use glue and is great for their fine motor skills!  I draw the pumpkins on black paper.  Then they glue the triangles around the outline out of the pumpkin first before they begin filling in the middle.  I encourage them to put the pieces together like a puzzle instead of piling them on randomly.  It takes a while to complete, but the results are beautiful.  I precut the triangles, but if you have time, you could have them cut their own.

Bicycles!

I saw an idea for this on one of the art blogs I follow and I'm so glad I tried it with 2nd grade!  We drew the bicycle step by step.  Then added the strips to the bottom and the background details with construction paper crayons.

Winter birds

Still hoping for some snow here!  So we are still doing winter themed projects for art!  2nd grade has finished their cardinals in the snow this week.  I found this project last year on Pinterest, and my friend and fellow art teacher Michelle Osbourne also does a similar project with some of her classes!  She does a neat variation with painted cardinals.  Perhaps we should try painting our birds next year too! 

Perspective snowmen

In our little place in the world, we get very little snow.  Every couple of years we may see a little, so we get very excited when the white stuff starts falling! :)  As we are patiently waiting for a pretty snow this year, my kids are busy in art creating all sorts of winter themed projects!  Starting with our perspective snowmen!!  Enjoy!