Oil Pastel Autumn Leaves! 1st Grade!!

To celebrate our first cold front of the season, our first graders got to explore the medium of oil pastels! They are so bright and vibrant and so much fun! We discussed the colors associated with autumn leaves and the different shapes leaves can come in. The students then traced each leaf shape and filled it in with beautiful fall colors. Then, they painted the backgrounds with blue and purple watercolor paints! We've been talking about indigo and how to mix it, so it was perfect!!!

Just check out the awesome finished products!

Color Wheel Umbrellas! Kindergarten!

Last week, our kindergartners explored the color wheel and color mixing through this fun drawing project! We learned about how to use markers and how to mix colors using only a few colors. Look how awesome these turned out!

Until next time, keep creating!! 

~Ms. Carney

Learning about Line! Ice Cream Cones with Kindergarten!

After the amazing dot project, we jumped right on in to learning about the different kinds of lines and shapes we use to make all of the wonderful projects in art class. We studied the different kinds of lines by reading the book, Lines That Wiggle by Candace Whitman.

We also learned about using basic shapes to create our pictures, like the mice in Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stohl Walsh!

So, then we used our new found knowledge to create wonderful drawings of super duper tall ice cream cones! Look how wonderful these turned out!

Picasso Number Face!

Right now at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, they have a WONDERFUL Picasso exhibit called "Picasso Black and White". It features a bunch of his monochromatic pieces over his career including paintings and sculptures. They do a wonderful night once a month called "Evening for Educators" where art teachers get to come to the exhibit, look around, go on guided tours, and listen to featured lectures! Its awesome! At one of the little break out sessions, they taught us how to draw the human face in the style of Picasso using numbers, and of course, I had to bring it back and try it with our kiddos!

So, here's how we get started!:

First, we have to draw in our numbers all connected together. Try to get up to 12!

Then, you can add in eyes, nostrils, eyelashes, eyebrows, whatever you want!

Here's a student example!

And of course, my favorite: COLOR!

Russian Matryoshka Dolls - 2nd Grade!

For the past couple of weeks, our 2nd graders have been creating mixed media paintings of Russian Matryoshka dolls! These are the fun dolls, usually made of wood, that have smaller versions of each one inside one another. I actually collect Matryoshka dolls myself, so this project was extra fun and special!

First, the students drew out their dolls and designed them with a bunch of beautiful patterns. Then, they created a background for the dolls with watercolor paints. Check out some of the wonderful projects below!

Cat in the Hat - 1st Grade!

In preparation for our full week celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday, our first graders learned how to draw the Cat in the Hat from one of Dr. Seuss' most famous and beloved books! These turned out just wonderful!!! I can't wait to hang them in the hallway!

This is my teacher example!

And here is the magnificent student work!

Harvest Corn Drawing - Kindergarten!

We've been practicing the lines and shapes we've learned about in Kindergarten by learning how we can make pictures of other things by putting all these shapes and lines together! Since November is already upon us, I thought it would be nice to create a picture of a lovely colorful corn stalk!

Like our Wobbly Birds, we discussed what other colors we could use for the sky instead of blue. This class chose purple and light turquoise!

Wobbly Birds - Kindergarten!

This is our first drawing project in Kindergarten! We used all the shapes and lines we've been learning about to create a picture of some silly-looking, wobbly birds!

We also learned that skies dont always have to be blue! For this picture, we made our sky look like a sunset with orange and yellow!

Patriotic Line Art - 3rd Grade

Our first project this year in 3rd grade went along with our school's patriotic theme for the year! We learned about different types of lines and how repetitive lines can really add interest and a cool 3D effect to our artwork!

This one's not quite finished, but I can already tell its going to look awesome!!!