Chris Uphues Inspired Hearts

These fun and colorful works of art were created by the students in grades one through three. We began by learning about street artist Chris Uphues and his eye-catching cartoon heart faces. We began by tracing different shaped hearts and drawing fun cartoon style faces on them. During the next class, students either painted in the hearts with one color or practiced blending two colors together. During the final class, we added some fun painted confetti to the background. Students had a blast drawing these wonderfully expressive faces and blending colors. 

A Magical Forest

I love the outdoors, so bringing landscapes into my classroom is always a great joy for me. The first thing my little artists created were the painted paper trees. We divided the paper into sections and drew patterns with crayons. Students then painted over these patterns with different shades of green. Day two consisted of setting up the landscape. We created the ground with construction paper, an orange sun and some clouds. We talked about the secondary colors (orange, violet and green) because they made up most of our beautiful landscapes. In the end, we added some texture with sponges and cut out different sized trees with added white paint branches. This is an easy and fun project that is abstract just enough so all students felt confident and created a masterpiece!

Autumn Leaves and a Van Gogh Sky

This is a great lesson for teaching observational drawing, color contrast, watercolor techniques and art history. And the best part: almost all students succeeded  in creating a beautiful painting! 

I taught this lesson to first through third grades. We began by completing observational drawings of leaves. These were then outlined with a black glue(Elmer's glue mixed with black tempera paint). During the next class, we painted in the leaves with warm colors. I showed students how to blend the watercolor paints to create intermediate colors. For the final class, students learned about Starry Night and created lines in the background that demonstrated movement. We also discussed how cool colors are opposite warm colors on the color wheel and how placing them next to each other creates contrast. 

This is a great seasonal project that introduces so many important design principles in an easy and fun way!

Pink Flamingos

Students in grades 1-3 created these fun collage paintings of pink flamingos. We began by painting a gradient sunrise/sunset for the background with watercolor paint. During the next class, students created texture paintings in pink and green which were later used to cut up and create the flamingo and grass. Students loved creating and learning about flamingos during this fun project!

Pattern Name Designs

Students got to create a painting using their names as the design! We began by learning about calligraphy and looking at different styles of lettering and fonts. Students then drew two curvy lines to break the space up on the page. We wrote our names in any style lettering (lower case, upper case, cursive) but every letter needed to touch the top and bottom of the section it was in. I let the students choose which part of their names to include. Once finished drawing it out in pencil, students outlined with black tempera paint and left them to dry. During week two, students added a unique pattern to every separate section of the artwork. I gave students many examples of patterns and let them choose to copy or create their own. I did enforce many DIFFERENT patterns and colors. The final week was spent painting in each section with watercolor paints. 

Winter Penguins

We began this project as our one winter art project of the year, even though we haven't had snow in Texas for several years. The first step was a discussion about lines in art and how they can be used to show movement. I told the students this was for a cold weather artwork so we would be using the cool colors- blue, green and violet. Students created a variety of swirls to show a cold and windy sky. I showed students how to hold and angle the brush so they could do thick or thin swirls. For the second class, we watched the intro to Happy Feet so students could have a little fun but also examine the shapes and colors of a penguin. I then led a guided drawing of a penguin which was painted over in black. The final class we added a light violet ground, a shining aluminum foil moon and the penguins. We used oil pastels to blend a shadow on the penguin and also under the penguin to add a bit of depth. The result: adorable winter penguins! 

Watercolor Flowers

Students in grades 1-3 created these vibrant watercolor still-lifes. We began by drawing in pencil a vase of flowers. I showed the students how to draw realistically and how to place the still-life on the page to properly use the space. Students had the option to draw realistic flowers or make more stylized versions. These were then outlined with black paint before we painted. Students did a great job and these lovely paintings are really adding some much needed color to our hallways!

Rousseau Tigers

Students in grades 1-3 created these hidden tigers in the style of self-taught French painter Henri Rousseau. We began by completing a guided drawing of a tiger. After the drawing was completed in pencil, students traced over the lines with black crayon. Before we painted the tigers, we looked at lots of pictures so students could see the tigers colors and which areas are typically white. During the final class, we read the story The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau by Michelle Markel. Students got to learn about the artist and see his many hidden jungle animals. We then added textured leaves and grass to our paintings to mimic the habitats of jungle tigers.

Day of the Dead Skulls

Students in grades 1-3 created these Day of the Dead skulls to learn about symmetry/balance and patterns in artwork. We began by learning about the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. I showed students a YouTube video about the holiday and we also read the book Day of the Dead by Tony Johnston. Celebrated in the U.S. and Mexico from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, the holiday tradition calls for the creation of altars to deceased loved ones, decorated with photos, meaningful objects and their favorite foods said to attract their souls. Petals of bright yellow-orange marigold flowers are used to guide them from the cemetery, according to tradition. 

The skulls were made by drawing half of the face on a folded piece of paper, then tracing it with black crayon and rubbing it to transfer to the other side. These were then painted with watercolors- students could make them as colorful as they wanted or leave it more simple. The final class was used to create a marigold flower border around the skull.