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! 

3rd grade owls for Art By Me

This is one of my favorite projects!  They always turn out beautiful!  Here are a few from this year.

Glorious paint!

Have I mentioned lately how much I love paint?  Well, I do... I love the smell (the non-toxic varieties, mind you!), the way it looks freshly squeezed from a bottle or tube, untouched and unalternated by brushes... the richness of the color and thickness with which it coats the bristles of my favorite brushes.... It is the most perfect medium to me, in any form, whether it be oil, acrylic, or tempera. The vibrance it brings to every piece of art that my students create is just magical!  I know... I may be slightly, or not so slightly, crazy... But I don't mind being a bit crazy about paint. 

   This is interesting because I was once afraid of it.  Especially in my art room.  No wait- I was terrified by it, the thought of the MESS and the NOISE associated with excitement over using paint overwhelmed me to the point that I avoided it as much as possible in my first few years of teaching!  We still used it, but only when necessary!  Once I realized how life-altering paint could be, (a bit too strong of a description for paint? Nah!) I began to use it more and more frequently, until painting is now a weekly event!  Oh... but what about all that noise and mess it was supposed to cause?  Surprisingly, the kids are quietest when they paint.  Some days you can almost hear a pin drop.  I love it, because I know they're engaged and enjoying what they're doing.

   So, to any new teachers who may be in fear the of this messy medium... You don't want to miss the wonderful things that paint can bring to your art room.  I promise it's forgiving, and even if it's not, messes can always be cleaned up, and nothing compares to the joy on a child's face when they find out it's "PAINT DAY!!!" in the art room!  

Colorful Chameleons

We are finally making enough progress on our first projects so that I can post pictures!  4th grade is working on these beautiful chameleons for their Art By Me fundraiser project.  We still have a few more steps to complete and then I'll post finished pictures.  We discussed the color wheel and patterns before they chose their chameleon colors.  We will paint the background next week!

Arts Camp 2014!

It's been such a busy summer! I am just now getting around to posting the fantastic pictures from the annual Arts Camp sponsored by our local Stanly County Arts Council.  My part was just a tiny piece of everything the kids had an opportunity to do this week.  They had theatre, dance, and music each day along with art.  I had four groups, divided roughly by age, and each group created a 16" by 20" canvas painting.  I love how they turned out!  I love even more that two canvases got to come home with me!

Zebra eyes!

I originally found the idea for this project over on Elementary Art Fun. I do these with 5th grade each year and it's a great lesson for teaching the color wheel, watercolor technique, as well as focusing (no pun intended!) on the parts of the eye and how to draw them properly. These are always a favorite! 

Abstract sunsets 2014

I posted these last year from my 4th graders and this year I thought they turned out even better!  We started with drawing the sunset and waves, then traced in permanent marker.  Painting with watercolor, we used cool colors for the water and warm colors for the sunset.  After the paint dried, we used colored pencils to add patterns and thicken our black lines to give the appearance of stained glass.

Tea cups in progress...

I am loving these tea cups! This was the first group I started with and I had cut their paper down to 6" by 18" so they look a little different, but still so cute!  I also discovered later to use the rectangle as in my previous post so we could avoid the shrinking tea cups!  Although it's a neat effect as well!  I will post more as the other classes using 12" by 18" paper are finishing up!