Lines! Lines! Lines!

Lines are everywhere and our first projects in Kindergarten and First grade have centered around this essential element of art. First graders traced their hands and filled them with different kinds of lines, wavy, zig zag, straight, lumpy, curvy, etc.... When finished they resembled the hands of a tattooed ROCK STAR! On day two, they colored their hands with crayons and painted over them with a tempera wash. They are lovely!

Kindergarten students practiced drawing lines on their "invisible air paper" while on the rug. Then they drew invisible lines on their white paper with white crayons. This helps them become aware of the motion of their arms in creating lines. We covered our invisible lines with bleeding art tissue and sprayed them with water. The tissue bled and their lines magically appeared. We also spent some time discussing that words can have different meanings and that "bleeding" in art didn't mean we needed to call the ambulance :) I had my hands full and forgot to photo them with the tissue but here they are drawing lines on their "invisible air paper".

Starting Fresh!

Welcome back boys and girls! I am thrilled to be beginning another fun filled year here at Morgan County Primary. The first day seems to be going great and I look forward to seeing you all this week. Please remember to wear your art shirts to my class each week. An adult size t-shirt seems to work the best. We wouldn't want to ruin any of those new "Back To School" outfits. Please check back often for updates on everything that is going on in the art room!

Art Show April 10th!

I am excited to share with everyone the information about our upcoming art show! I decided to do things a little differently this year and rather than doing an "art festival" type event I am going with a more sophisticated "museum" style exhibit. The art show this year is a group effort with a company called First Art Works. The students made some really lovely art in my class and I have sent the work to First Art Works for framing. On the night of the show, every student will have their matted and framed art on display. If parents would like to buy the frame that it is in, they can take the work off the wall and buy it that night. All art that is not bought in the frame that night will be returned to the students in several weeks. I have tried to explain to the students that they are not buying their art, but they are buying the frame that it is in. The art show is Thursday, April 10th and will follow the PTO meeting that starts at 5:00. It is a "drop in" event, so feel free to stay as long as you like. In addition to the framed work, there will also be hundreds of other student art diplayed all along the Library wing here at MCPS. Please make sure to come down and see additional work by your children. I am so excited about the show and I hope that everyone can make it out to the school on April 10th to celebrate the young artists of Morgan County Primary School!

Matisse Interiors

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Several classes in Second grade have been hard at work learning about Henri Matisse and creating art inspired by him. They looked at many of his paintings of room interiors as well as some of his still lifes. Their paintings incorporated a little of both. They were given the directions to paint a goldfish bowl in a room but they could have complete creative freedom to design their space. Some chose to paint bedrooms while others made family rooms and included aspects of their own homes. These turned out so beautifully! Here is sampling of some of the created work.

Picasso Portraits

Hello Pinterest friends! If you are viewing this blog via Pinterest....welcome! This is actually my old blog from my previous school. Feel free to look around and enjoy! I also have a NEW BLOG that I try to update frequently, so please visit my new blog at www.hsesartyparty.blogspot.com

You can also follow my Pinterest boards at http://pinterest.com/bessc/

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Some of my classes in First and Second grade have been learning about the art of Pablo Picasso. They were especially interested in his portraits and the students found his work very entertaining. We spent some time talking about how Picasso was very brave. He was not afraid to make art that was different and didn't care that people were critical of him. These classes are creating Picasso inspired portraits. They started with a brush and black paint that they used to "draw" their portrait. I demonstrated how they could hold their brush straight up and down with their elbow up to get a nice clean line. I love the appearance that this technique of painting creates. In the following weeks, the kids will add line designs with oil pastels and paint over them with a watercolor wash. I will post more pictures later! Enjoy the works in progress!

Do you remember Shrinky Dinks?

Some of my fondest memories as a child were making Shrinky Dinks at my grandmothers house. They were kind of pricey for our family budget, so we only got to make them at Grandmas. For those of you that aren't familiar with them, they were sheets of pliable plastic that you could color and put in the toaster oven. They would shrink to half their size and become hard, thick plastic. The "Smurfs" were my favorite Shrinky Dink characters to buy. Well, today in 2008, I can buy 9X12 sheets of the "Shrink Film" as they call it now. The students are amazed at what this stuff does. Several 2nd grade classes are learning about the artist, Pablo Picasso and his abstract art. We have been focusing mostly on his portraits and the unusual way that he painted them. The classes are making Picasso style portraits on the shrink film and we have been cooking them in my classroom toaster. I punched holes in them prior to shrinking them because these will soon be pendants for a Picasso style necklace. Bead making has also begun and I will post about those later. Here are some before and after pictures of their art and even one shrinking in the oven. This is so fun!

Presenting.....MCPS Kings and Queens!

The crowns are finished! These First grade classes had great fun learning about Kings and Queens. Their crowns turned out cute and are filled with a large amount of paint, oil pastels, jewels, glitter and some feathers. Enjoy!