artrageousafternoon

Colorwheel Game

2012-01-23T19:31:00.000-08:00

Here is a fun group activity for artclass when you have a few minutes left of art time. I had a huge tub of crayons left on each table after our art lesson and I challenged each group to make a color wheel with their crayons. They had to dig for the primary, secondary and intermediate colors and then arrange them on their table before the other groups. I dismissed them when they got it right. For the younger kids I went over the color wheel, and told them there were 12 colors and I told them there wasn't any pink, brown, black or white in the color wheel. Have fun.

2012-01-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

I haven't been to creative lately, been working on softball recruiting stuff for my dd. I found this quote on pinterest and really like it. I have a few things I think about, dream about daily. I kno God has a plan for me, for my life, and as long and I can trust in Him, put one foot in front of the other, and work hard, I know amazing things will happen. One day at a time, of course, ha.

A possible T-shirt design for my school.

Happy New Year!

2011-12-27T11:53:00.000-08:00

I found these glitter letters at the after Christmas sale at Walmart. They were about 48 cents each. I couldn't find a "y" and really wanted to spell Happy New Year, so I settled for CELEBRATE. Maybe that's a good thing, I can use the banner for birthdays or any other celebration too.

And, then I wanted a new decoration for my door, so I came up with this party hat. Happy New Year!

2011-12-17T12:36:00.000-08:00

So I was browsing pinterest this morning and I found a great tutorial on how to make an knockoff anthropologie necklace here, and I was thinking I could totally do that and I wouldn't even have to buy a thing, cuz I have a bunch of junk jewelry already. And, I might even have enough to make two!

Also, amother project that I've tried my hand at is duct tape wallets. Don't buy the cheap tape at Big Lots, get the thicker stuff at Michaels. There are lots of tutorials on youtube.And, one more gift idea for the holidays, reuse used leather belts for bracelets. I bought one at a flea market in L.A. and have been making them since.

2011-12-16T18:23:00.000-08:00

Learned how to make this on bighugelabs.com, guess it's official now that I have a badge, I'm on the yearbook staff.

Christmas Crafts

2011-12-15T06:58:00.000-08:00

My Jr. Highers made 80 of these crosses for the Missions Christmas Dinner. We hot glued popcicle sticks together painted them with acrylic paints and then decoupaged a heart to the middle and added a string.

I've started a collection of these little pearl snowmen. I've been saving little glass bottles over the year and throw in some pearls and a form head and then embellish with eyelets, buttons, broken jewelry, etc....

Snowman ornaments made from sheet music and a stripy scarf paper with a button.

Made some wool and felt flowers for Mistletoe Mall. I just buy colorful wools sweaters from the good will and repurpose them. Sew them together with a button and add a pin back and any extra layer of wool on the back. super easy and fun. I great way to cheer up your wool coat or sweater.

Rizzi Taxi

2011-12-12T18:38:00.000-08:00

So we've been inspired by James Rizzi. Love his bright colors and how he uses up the canvas space. Students drew using just oil pastel, no pencil first. Only had one melt down, but we pushed through and it didn't have to be perfect.

Next we painted with water colors, trying to conserve the yellow for the next classes. Also, I asked if the kids could come up with different windows for every building and I even let them put a happy face on the sun, which is so against every grain in my art teacher mind, but so Rizzi, so I said, do it.

Genius of Love

2011-11-28T21:26:00.001-08:00

And, remember this song? I found out that James Rizzi did the artwork for this video, so cool.

2011-11-28T21:17:00.001-08:00

One more Taxi Cab pic that I liked. I love the horizontals and verticals happening in this one with all the building scape in the background, and the sun and the moon.

2011-11-28T21:06:00.001-08:00

James Rizzi

Some call him a pop artist, some call him Urban Primative

He was born and raised in NYC, and paints his experience growing up.

He was inspired by cartoons and cereal boxes.

This one is called Be a Good Sport. I love how whimzical his art is, look at the faces on the buildings. He paints, beauty, love and happiness. We can all use a little of that right?

Intensly detailed city scapes......

Love is in the Air......

And the NYC Taxi Cab......

Getting Ready for Christmas

2011-11-25T14:23:00.001-08:00

Been making some little house Christmas ornaments for Misletoe Mall. Super easy with , cardboard, scrap paper and an eyelet and a key embellishment.

And I saw something like this on pinterest and found the frame and joy ornament at the dollar store. I had all the ribbon, and the balls, so this cost me about $1.20 to make.

More headbands for Mistletoe Mall, to decorate your head.....

And, my pillow I made from one of the stitchery tree scenes I've been working on. Hope you are getting in the Christmas spirit.

Christmastime, it's almost here!

2011-11-17T07:13:00.001-08:00

Started working on a few of these little tree scenes. I think they might become pillows for Misletoe Mall. Can't wait for Christmas. I think I have more fun preparing for it though cuz that takes weeks and Christmas is just one day. Hmmmm........

Angry Birds

2011-11-06T19:41:00.000-08:00

Tell me you do not love an angry bird when you see one. They are so angry they make me laugh. My mom and I made 30 something angry birds today for Mistletoe Mall. They are bean bags, so if you are feeling angry you can throw one at someone, (slingshot not included). And, I'm not sure that we will make any pigs, cuz they just antagonize the birds, and they are already angry, plus they are not as fun to throw......

Frame Foto

2011-11-06T19:30:00.001-08:00

My yearbook staffers wanted to do a photo with a frame, so this is what we came up with. I have two boys, so they held the frame and the girls posed in the background. Notice the tape sculpture foot dangling in the picture almost kicking Niki in the head. Nice.

November

2011-11-04T15:09:00.000-07:00

Got this art project from deepspacesparkle.com, printed leaves with white tempera paint on black paper and then sponged fall colored paint around the leaves. These look beautiful and display very well.

Kinders learn about Paul Cezanne and his still life pictures and create this still life with apple, pear and an orange. We highlight the fruit with chalk and add shadows with charcoal.

Black glue and oil pastel leaves. Kids have fun rubbing in the oil pastels.

Preppy Kinders are working on lines, pattern and shapes. Happy November.

October, almost November

2011-10-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

Been learning a little more about the Mona Lisa. Do you know that she came to the U.S. in 1963 for three months? This is the only time the Mona Lisa has been on our soil. The French Minister of Cultural Affairs accompanied her and she was displayed in the White House guarded around the clock by U.S. Marines, and then the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. After she visited the U.S., she went to Japan for a special exhibit and then back to the Louvre where she was encased in a special bulletproof glass case that was a gift from Japan for the loan of the painting.

In other news. I have been recycling, and making bookmarks to give away for great behavior in art class. The kids love them.

A project from summer art camp. draw several shapes on a large piece of colored construction paper. paint those shapes using bright colors. add lines and patterns inside and outside of the shapes with black and white paint. Keep going until u have filled up the space.

September

2011-09-23T15:39:00.000-07:00

Been busy in September, made carmel apples with Emma's friends, yumm!

Put this tree up in my classroom. Saw a cute one on Pinterest, and had to have one of my own.

We had a monkey visit the artroom so we went over the rules for monkeys in art class, by the way, the rules apply for students too....FYI

Started these farm landscapes using a little bit of perspective, and my tractor is a John Deer.

More monkeys, for the older kids, they practiced symmetry.

and, from last year, I put up their portraits again, so they can see how they have grown over the summer....

Food Art

2011-09-18T18:55:00.000-07:00

Ymmm! English Muffin Pizza

Fall

2011-09-11T17:42:00.000-07:00

With the start of school comes the fall season and fall decor, which I love almost as much as Christmas. Got the Fall decor boxes down from the rafters, and enjoyed putting them up, especially in the entry way.

Some metal decorations, the ghost is a candle....Made this room freshener into a formaldehyde poison bottle....Got the crows out and added them here and there around the house. My mom gave me this pumpkin a couple of years ago, I love the white with the black writing, give thanks....

Been keeping my eye out for lanterns lately. I think they are really cool and good to have incase of a black out......

These are some of my favorite decorations. The cat is missing a wisker, but he's still cute and the candle is one of those battery operated ones.

and.... a put together a cone for a door hanger, with a crow of course.

2011-09-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

Got this off another blog, I can't remember where, but I loved it of course, cuz it's so true. Had a rough week a couple of weeks ago and then transitioning from being off to having to go to work and meetings and such, gave me a bad attitude. Then school started Weds. and I got to be creative once again with my students, who I missed over the summer. And, art made everything awesome. I'm in the creative groove again. Brainstorming some ideas about art lessons and projects for M.C. Escher. Anyone have any great ideas out there?

Disruptive Monkey

2011-09-02T16:51:00.001-07:00

A monkey came to art class last week and he was really disruptive. He didn't listen and follow directions, he didn't stay in his seat and he didn't share his crayons. He was even playing with the art supplies while I was teaching about a famous artist. He was talking so loud while I was teaching the other kids couldn't hear me. I asked him to stop. But then he just got louder. Finally I told him he had to leave, that disruptive monkeys weren't allowed in art class. He started to cry. He said that he had never been to art class before and that he didn't know the rules. He said he wanted to stay and learn the rules and asked if I would help him. I said he could stay if he learns the rules and follows them so that all my students can enjoy art time. I will be asking my students what the art class rules are, so we can teach the monkey, so he can stay and be artistic with us.

School

2011-08-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

Can't believe the summer is almost up. Wow, it seems to just go by so fast. I am looking forward to school and work though. Looking forward to the structure of the day and the kids and art making. Looking forward to fall too. Though I'm certainly not ready, just looking forward.

Cornstarch and Salt Clay

2011-08-20T21:32:00.000-07:00

So, during art camp last week, I wanted to do clay one day. I saved it for the last day, so the kids could get creative with it while I displayed last minute art for the artshow at the end of the day. I made cornstarch and salt clay. I tripled the recipe, which made it really hard to manage in the making process. It required heating over the stove and with that much clay it was hard to stir. I would do it again, just not so much. Anyways, the kids made a crayon holder and then whatever kind of animal they wanted. I really liked the whiteness of this clay, and the fact that it air dried.

Happy Birthday Carla

2011-08-16T06:35:00.000-07:00

Had a little inspiration from my friend Carla. It was her birthday yesterday and she was so excited about it. Giddy, like a five year old. And because she's crafty, I knew she would enjoy this.

self portraits

2011-08-16T06:24:00.000-07:00

We did self portraits at camp last week. The girls drew out their head, shoulders and hair. Next they painted just the skin, hair and shirt.

We set them aside to dry. Then once they were dry, they added features, details and background patterns with oil pastels. We had to go easy on the blush, didn't want to over do it. The nice thing about the pastels, was you could color over if you made a mistake.

Art Camp

2011-08-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

And, isn't this adorable. We made collaged foliage figures at art camp

and this was Carley's. I love the hair and the pink skirt. So much fun.

Art Camp/ Weaving

2011-08-09T20:45:00.000-07:00

Also, today we did weaving. This is with a 3by5 piece of cardboard with 4 slits cut in the top and the bottom and yarn. The kids picked as many colors as they could fit and went over under etc.

They also decorated the edge of the cardboard piece to add interest. They usually picked yarn that went with their boarder. Just Crayola water color markers did the trick.

We added beads to the necklace part and also a few fringy beady dangles on the bottom. They all came out great and are on display for the art show Friday.

Here's my sample that I wore. Not sure if it goes with my floral patterend dress, but I worked it anyway.

Art Camp/Craft Sticks

2011-08-09T20:38:00.000-07:00

It's only day 2 of art camp the second week and I learned so much the first time, that it has made this time around really easy. Today we made these houses out of popsicle sticks or craft sticks. The kids colored the sticks and added designs then we hot glued them onto a piece of black construction paper, added a few colored wooden sticks, used pencils and part of a ruler.

The end results are amazing. I mounted them onto a colored piece of construction paper and they are ready for our art show on Friday.

Hollywood Sign

2011-08-09T06:51:00.000-07:00

Do you know that you can get within about 100 yards of the hollywood sign? I didn't, but with a friend, a little persistance and an address and a GPS, you can get pretty close. This is something really fun and free to do in LA. It's in a residential neighborhood so we didn't stay long, but it was amazing to see it up close and personal. Here's the address if you are feeling adventureous.

3204 Canyon Lake Drive

Hollywood Ca 90068

Smore's Pie

2011-08-09T06:38:00.000-07:00

Ymmm! Found this recipe on this blog for the incredible pie. It was gone in a day. Super easy to make and only took 20 minutes to bake. Be forewarned though, it's really sweet.

Don't Throw Stones, Paint Them

2011-08-09T06:30:00.000-07:00

So we went over to Sarah's house to swim and also to help her paint some garden stones. She got them in the discount section of a building supply store for a buck each. I'm thinking I need some for my yard as well. This was really fun. Even her 2 year old got into it. Here she is, Momma is going to add her hand prints after her painted stone dries.

My Emma did this one. Can you tell she loves frogs?

And, here is one that I did. I think I am going to be going to the building supply store real soon. Thanks Sarah for a fun afternoon.

flickr pics

2011-08-05T07:39:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I put any pics on flickr, but I practiced making this tile sampler with the pics I had on their already. It was fun to go back and look at art from a few years ago. I really enjoying having a creative outlet. It makes everything ok.

Art Camp 2.0

2011-08-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for another week of artcamp. Looking forward to being creative with my little artist friends. Looks like the weather is going to be mild which will make for pleasant artmaking. We will be doing a wide range of mixed media projects: painting, drawing, collage, sculpture and mobiles again. Let me know if you need more info.....

Inspiration

2011-07-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon the artist Kimmy Cantrell as I was bloghopping one morning. I found his sculptures very inspiring, so I drew out a few ATCs from his inspiration. I love getting inspired by other artists. I was talking to my friend Sarah who does a mommy and me class with her daughter, and she was complaining about how the craft section of the class never had a sample of the completed project for them to go by. It made me think of the debate as art teachers to give the kids a sample or not. Some art teachers swear by not giving the kids a sample to look at. I disagree. I say, give them inspiration, but...... be clear that it's inspiration and their end result should not look exactly the same. I think it's important to inspire them, not frustrate them. Give them a jumping off place and see where their creativity takes them. Those who are not creative won't be frustrated and those who are creative will take the inspiration and run.

Art Camp Take 2

2011-07-18T12:32:00.001-07:00

Looks like we are going to have another exciting week of art camp. Back by popular demand, camp will be Aug. 8th thru the 12th from 9 to noon, with an art show on the final day. We need artists going into grades 1-3 in the fall. Please scroll down to see examples from our last camp. Email me if you need more details and a registration flyer, jlee@ccschool.org

2011-07-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

Art Camp is officially over. We had a really great time and cranked out the art. We had a show today to end the week. We displayed our amazing work, before it was taken down and taken home. Hopefully it will be displayed on refrigerators across the county.

Art Camp Collages

2011-07-07T22:21:00.000-07:00

At art camp this week, I drew a square on the concrete with chalk for each student. Then, I had them collect 15 pieces of plants from the yard. They could be leaves, stems, flowers, etc. Then each artist made a figure from the greenery. I then took a picture with my camera. I put it on the close up setting. I had each figure printed 8x10. They came out really cute. Can't wait to display them, tomorrow.

Art Camp

2011-07-06T23:49:00.000-07:00

Well we are half way through the week and art camp is going well. We have made mobiles, paintings, weavings, drawings and even some plant collages. Friday we will have an art show and display all our creativity throughout the week.

Flag Cookie

2011-07-03T09:36:00.000-07:00

I saw this flag cookie somewhere online and thought it would be fun to make for the block party we are going to today. It's a sugar cookie rolled out on a cookie sheet, white frosting and then blue berries, strawberries and mini marshmallows. Can't wait to try it.

Free Style Embroidery

2011-07-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

So, I"ve been wanting to try my hand at embroidery, but haven't ever taken the leap and jumped into that medium. I especially wanted to try something new over the summer. So I saw this sampler class online and decided to try it. It's at Paper Bella Studios by Teresa Mcfayden. It's turned out to be pretty easy and fun. And her instruction is a little loose which allows for some creativity, which I like. Her style is similar to mine, so I'm excited. This is what I've done so far. I think I might end up making it into a pillow. What are you doing this summer?

Art Camp

2011-07-01T09:57:00.001-07:00

Summer Art Camp is almost here and I'm getting excited. We are going to draw portraits of the sun at the beach. My sun is a girl and she likes building sand castles and boogie boarding. I got the sun faces from the Tru-Ray construction paper packets. I've been saving them all year.

Earlier I posted, my thrill with popsicle craft sticks, and how there are so many uses for them. We are going to color them in interesting patterns and then create a house on black contruction paper. I added a few recycled pencil stubs and some smaller colored sticks.

Here is a weaving practice. It's good to start with paper strips and then try your hand at yarn weaving. We will try and do both in art camp.

And, a recycled item mobile. I still haven't been to see the Calder exhibit, but we are going to create these whimsical pieces anyway. I can't wait for this one.

Shell Tree

2011-06-28T08:53:00.000-07:00

Was thinking I wanted to decorate my tinsel tree for summer, and what better summer ornament than shells. Drilling holes was a little tricky, a broke a few. I then added a little ribbon bow to hang. Voila.

Art Easels

2011-06-28T08:45:00.000-07:00

I've been to the beach, but I've also been blog hopping, getting inspired for art camp. I think we are going to try our hand at weaving and also making art easels out of craft sticks. I've been on a craft stick kick lately. There are so many things you can do with a craftstick, they are so handy.

Mobiles

2011-06-24T08:56:00.001-07:00

OMGN- I found the coolest mobile project at plumpudding art blog, I am prepping for something similar for art camp. Can't wait to make mobiles with my camp artists. But before I do this I wanna head to the Orange County Museum of Art, in Newport Beach and see Alexander Calder's mobile exhibit. Maybe I'll get a chance over the weekend. When I was in D.C. in March, the National Gallery of Art had a whole room of Calder mobiles and the coolest part about it was seeing the shadows that the mobiles created on the walls around them, and how they moved and changed depending on the way the mobile moved.

The Calder exhibit is at OCMA until Sept 4th. It's open Weds thru Sunday 11-5. Let me know if you see it and what you thought.

thrift find

2011-06-23T10:52:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite things to do is wander through thriftstores looking for hidden treasures. I was in the Salvation Army yesterday and saw this painting by the artist McCaine. I was drawn to it, something about the stylized depictions of the elephants, especially the baby one. I passed it up because of a small tear in the bottom part. I went home and looked the artist up and got little info on him, except he was from the midwest and painted for aaron bros. in Palm Springs in the 60's and 70's. Been thinking about the painting ever since I saw it, there's just something about it, so I went back today and talked the price down cuz of the rip. I now own an elephant painting, and I really like it.

card catalog decoupage

2011-06-20T17:48:00.000-07:00

I was blog browsing this morning and I really got inspired here. Sara has a great house that she has decorated with funky patchwork and bright colors. I was inspired to collage decoupage my card file that I have had for a while. I got it free from the library a few years back but it had an unfinished top that I never knew what to do with, but now I figured it out. Thanks for the inspiration Sara.

Spaghetti Dogs

2011-06-17T22:35:00.000-07:00

We made spaghetti dogs tonight, just had to try them after seeing them in a couple of places on the internet, including here. Henry helped thread all the noodles into the hot dog chunks. I also made brocoli and a cheese sauce to go on top, but the kids liked just parm cheese on top, and they ate it all.

Summer Art

2011-06-16T23:32:00.000-07:00

This is a great project for the end of the year or the beginning of the school year too, when your feet have gotten so used to wearing flipflops and you have to put your school shoes back on. But, who's thinking about that now? We have the whole summer ahead of us.

Pablo Picasso's Summer Bouquet. I usually teach his hand with bouquet in springtime, but look, he has a summer bouquet too.

FYI- I'm teaching an art camp, a mixed media art studio in fact, from July 5-8th. It's from 8:45-12:15 for artists going into 2nd-5th grade. Let me know if you need more details

But before we get too ahead of ourselves, let's take a day off and go to the beach.

2011-06-08T14:56:00.000-07:00

Found a good project for all those popcicle sticks that I have received as donations over the years. I did this project with my kinders yesterday, didn't have my camera yesterday, so I didn't get any pics of their self portraits as artists. I think they spent more time on the artwork inside the artwork, and ran out of time for their art studios. We talked about how we all art artists and I hope they will continue to create over the summer.

Jr. High- 1 point perspective. Kady, gave everyone in her class a building/business. My art museum is cut off, it's over on the left.

And, another collage self-portrait. This is one of my favorite projects. It's just torn magazine scraps and a glue stick. Make sure you have a lot of magazines with skin in them.

2011-06-08T14:34:00.000-07:00

I've been experimenting with foil tape. My elementary students have been making crosses, using the foil tape on styrofoam plates and coloring with permanant markers. I tried a frame and it was a little more difficult than the cross, maybe the jr. highers could pull it off.

And the ugly dolls will be going home soon. It's been nice to have them in the window of the art room. I will miss them. They all have their own personality and they are so ugly they're cute. Bye Ugly Doll family, have a nice summer.

Life is like.....

2011-06-05T07:10:00.001-07:00

These are for a challenge I did on the artist's nest. We were to come up with a saying that started, Life is Like....... I guess I was thinking life was pretty sweet, cuz I came up with it being like a cupcake. We made a tag, a skinny page, and envelope and a postcard. I painted the cupcakes and added clear glitter. The life word was cut out in a template and then spray painted, the rest was pretty much collaged and stamped. What's your life like?

Torn Collage

2011-06-02T21:33:00.001-07:00

My jr. higher's are working on torn collage self portraits. This one got finished today and I really like it. I snapped a quick pic as he was walking out the door. Good job Eric.

2011-06-02T20:59:00.001-07:00

For the love of pete. I couldn't get my kiln fixed before the end of the school year and the kids have been questioning, when? when? So now that there is 9.5 days left of school, when is now. We've started painting our cupcakes, and I have warned them they are very brittle. So be careful. Only one casualty today, and I dropped it myself. Good going Mrs. Lee.
I think this one is strawberry with white sprinkles....
Bubble gum with a cherry on top.....
Tops and bottoms......

2011-05-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

In kindergarten we learned about Henri Matisse today and looked at a few of his collages and paintings. We then created our own fish, fishbowls and tables. Fun, fun.

2011-05-05T21:26:00.000-07:00

Did I mention we studied Claes Oldenburg this year in elementary art? We looked it his whimsical larger than life sculptures of food, and household objects many of which are now almost obsolete. One of my favorite being this typewriter eraser (the kids had no idea what it was), hmmm. Well I got to see it in the sculptural garden of the National Gallery of art in Washington D.C. among some other great sculptures as well. Then, last week.....

while visiting in Ohio, right near the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I got to see this one, called Free Stamp, by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje Van Bruggen. It was commission by Standard Oil Company of Ohio which was bought out by British Petroleum during the production. BP ended up donating it to the city of Cleveland. It was originally supppose to be standing on the stamp end, but it was decided to lay it down, which allows the word free to be read. That's how big it is.......

Marc Chagall

2011-04-21T19:03:00.000-07:00

Marc Chagall used to be one of my favorite artists. I told the kids, really! cuz they don't believe me cuz I tell them every artist is my favorite. But Chagall so much, that I used to have a cat named Chagall, based on his painting "Paris Through My Window." But this one is called "I And My Village." A fourth grader today, told me the title was wrong. It's suppose to say "My Village and I." I said, "It's Art, not English." We then worked on our own villages..... Color to come......

Roy Lichtenstein

2011-04-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

I saw this Roy Lichtenstein at the National Gallery of Art last month in Washington D.C. It was huge, probably 10 or 15 feet high. I've seen some of his work at the LACMA, but nothing this big. My kinders study Lichtenstein and his use of benday dots to create his works of art. You can see benday dots with a magnifying glass and the colored comic page.

They then create their own self-portraits using a pattered piece of paper for their face and only using red, yellow, blue, white and black construction paper. I can really see their resemblance.

Easter Decor

2011-04-17T23:23:00.000-07:00

I went to the Sugar Plum Craft Show at the Buena Park Mall this weekend and came home with a few things. Here are two little spring decor things I picked up. I love the party hats on these cute two. I think I'll have to attach party hats to all my spring decorations and we'll have a Spring Fling.

Modigliani

2011-04-17T23:01:00.000-07:00

My students are learning about the Italian Artist Amedeo Modigliani. Modigliani was known for his elongated portraits of his muse Jeanne. He was influenced by African masks and sometimes his portraits had blank masklike eyes. My students created selfportraits last week after we discussed the word, "likeness," and they made their portrait in the likeness of themselves and in the likeness of Modigliani's style.

Spring

2011-04-12T19:29:00.001-07:00

Spring is about pretty dresses and birds and flowers and new beginnings.
I love hearing the birds chirp in the morning, there's a mocking bird near my window, I love it.
and the rain has brought green grass and new color to the world.
And Easter is coming......
and, it's time to spring clean and make things fresh again. I love to have the back door open and feel the sun and fresh breeze.
With birds and Easter, come eggs and new beginnings......

DaVinci

2011-04-04T21:56:00.000-07:00

Well she isn't as famous as Mona Lisa, or does she have that cute little smirk, but none the less a real DaVinci. Painted on a wooden panel and was cropped off on the bottom, but the cool thing is that Leonardo painted the backside of her too. This portrait of Genevera de Benci has a backside with a painted laurel wreath that has the inscription, "Beauty is Virtue." And whats even cooler, is that to soften up the trees into the background, DaVinci used his finger in the wet paint, so it has his finger prints in it. Its the only DaVinci in the U.S. and it's at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

Art Night

2011-04-04T21:29:00.000-07:00

Last Friday evening Calvary had an art night, with interactive art stations set up all over the courtyard. It was a very creative night with lots of fun hands-on art activities. Here are a few pics from the evening. This was a paint mural, on the backside was a chalk mural.

Jr. highers working the clay station. Thanks girls for helping out.

Melted crayon and wax paper station......

More paint......

And, a pic of my student's mural that was in the art show.

2011-03-30T05:53:00.000-07:00

After Pablo Picasso's "Hands with Bouquet", kindergarteners trace and cut out their hand, and add strips of green paper for stems. next they wrap tissue squares around the eraser end of the pencil and glue to the tops of the stems. An easy beautiful spring bouquet.

2011-03-27T18:09:00.001-07:00

Hello Spring. I am so glad that you are here. It's about time. I love spring.

Museum

2011-03-27T17:03:00.001-07:00

Can you tell where I've been? That's me heading into the tunnel of the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. Can you see the excited look on my face? Amazing. Can't wait to go back and spend some more time there. The museum contained 1 or more pieces of art from so many artists I've taught about over the last 13 years. It was amazing to actually see them in person. I was like a kid in a you know what.

2011-02-25T11:50:00.000-08:00

Let me introduce Eraser Bob Square Pants. He came by my classroom to tell me how upset he was that the kids were stabbing his friends and poking holes in them. I am going to pass on this info to my students in hopes that they will take pity on him and not hurt his friends. Feel free to share how he feels with your students too.

2011-02-24T14:29:00.000-08:00

Being an art teacher, I always get asked, who's your favorite artist. I find it really hard to pick just one. I'm so inspired by many artists. But, I usually say, it's the artist that I am teaching about at that time, because, they become not only inspirational to me, but to my students as well. We are learning about Keith Haring and how he got his start as an artist in the New York subway stations. He was inspired by graffiti artists and by pop artists as well. I love his whimsical figures that seem to be vibrating or in motion. Thanks Keith Haring for inspiring us, to make colorful, whimical art.

Radial Symmetry

2011-02-23T15:14:00.000-08:00

My jr. highers are studying radial symmetry, and also form, so we are making radial symetrical sculptures out of rolled up magazine sticks and a radial design in the center. I can't wait to get these done and hang them on the wall.

President's Day

2011-02-23T15:08:00.001-08:00

My 6th grade elective made flags for the presidents holiday. We drew out the flag and then collaged on words that represented the holiday and then drew stars on with a white crayon and then painted over with red, white and blue paint. Thanks George and Abe for making this country great.

Hearts

2011-02-11T07:11:00.001-08:00

I was just looking through my images stored on my computer. I found a couple from Feb. of last year. Time flies when you are having fun. These stood out to me to share again.....

From my friend Jill last year for Valentines Day. It's hanging on my door. I love it.
My artwork photo-shopped into a museum setting, that would be so cool to see it on a wall in a gallery or museum. Someday...........

2011-02-09T09:19:00.000-08:00

Saw these on another blog, and thought they were the cutest things. It's amazing what you can do with a couple of googly eyes and some pipe cleaners. Happy Valentines Day. Hope you are inspired by love.

Mona Lisa

2011-02-01T17:50:00.000-08:00

Where would you take Mona to make her smile again? She has been cooped up in the museum for almost a hundred years. She hasn't been out since she was stolen in the early 1900's. She's tired of looking at the museum walls. She wants some fun and adventure. Where would you take her to make her smile that famous smile of hers? My kindergarteners decided that places like Disneyland, the beach, the park, the Eiffel Tower and Sea World would do the trick. Then they illustrated themselves and Mona on their adventure. I'm sure she's smiling now.

Cupcake

2011-02-01T17:44:00.000-08:00

A bisque cupcake. My kiln isn't firing up and I'm bummed. I have about 300 bisque cupcakes that I want to fire and glaze and fire again. I've put a call into the kilngod, and I am hoping he can get it going. It's loaded and ready, if I could just get it fired up. Say a prayer for our kiln, hopefully it can be fixed.

2011-01-28T19:11:00.000-08:00

We just finished a unit about color and my jr. highers had to create designs in the various color schemes like warm, cool, complimentary, analogous, primary, secondary, and intermediate colors and then label them. Watch for the end results soon.

2011-01-26T15:39:00.000-08:00

Perspective and symmetry are both great subjects to learn about in these selfportraits. I did this with 5th and 6th grade and they really enjoyed designing the bottom of their show after getting inspiration from their real shoes. The hard part was creating the symmetrical opposite on the otber one. We then cut them out and attached them to a checkerboard weaving.

2011-01-24T15:16:00.000-08:00

Another heart idea. This is brown paper I printed words onto and then drew over with sharpie and painted the rest. The white is a white gel pen over the top. I love the layered look of it.

2011-01-23T19:34:00.000-08:00

In elementary art this week we are making cupcakes out of clay. We are using the silicone cupcake molds for the bases and then coils for the tops. I am excited to see how they turn out.

They will have to be fired twice, once for the bisque and once for the glaze. Hopefully they will come out amazing. I'll let you know.

And perfect timing to be working on cupcakes. Its the art teacher's birthday this weekend!

2011-01-21T04:12:00.000-08:00

Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture.

So, what's it going to be? What is the latest and the greatest as far as Valentine art projects go? I found this one online and think I might need to try it with my preschoolers. I think I might collage the hearts first and then stamp with bottle caps and macaroni and cardboard lines. Good idea.

Did this one a couple of years ago. We learned about the artist Robert Indiana and his LOVE scupture and then broke up the page into for squares and drew out the letters. Then colored with black and white patterns in the positive space and color in the backgrounds, negative spaces. Easy peasy.
Saw this one online and just thought it would make a great teacher gift. I could use some lotion. My hands are all dried out from the clay we have been sculpting.

Based on Picasso's Hands with Bouquet. Trace hand, and cut out of skin colored construction paper, set aside. Cut strips of green construction paper. Glue them on to white background paper. Add colored squares of tissue with white glue and the eraser end of their pencils. I add the dots of glue onto their paper and they have to attach a flower to every dot I make.

Self portrait holding a Valentine Heart. Draw the heart and hands first then add the portrait in the back. "But now, faith , hope and love, abide these things, but the greatest of these is love" 1 Corinthians 13:13.

2011-01-18T14:03:00.000-08:00

In kindergarten today we learned about the artist Henri Matisse. Henri loved to draw with scissors. We looked at his collage called "Escargot" and created our own snails using tissue and watered down glue.

We put glue underneath and on top of the tissue squares to help it stay down.

We also added antenni with a blacik sharpie

break out self portraits

2011-01-10T15:52:00.000-08:00

And we just finished these break out self portraits. The kids used prisma color markers and created a front all about them and the future and then ripped a hole in it and added their self portrait to the back. They look amazing.

2011-01-10T15:46:00.000-08:00

My jr. highers are working on this project. They had to pick warm or cool colors for the backgrounds and we are making them out of tissue and watered down glue. We will finish the backgrounds tomorrow and then start working on the trees which are just torn white construction paper and watered down black tempera paints. Too bad we don't see treescapes like these in Southern Ca.

Jessica's "Daily Affirmation"

2011-01-02T19:39:00.000-08:00

Saw this on another art teacher's blog and thought is was so great. Sometimes we just need to tell ourselves how good we are. I get a lot of affirmations from friends, but have a hard time accepting them sometimes. Maybe it just needs to come from within as we look in the mirror.

2010-12-31T05:28:00.000-08:00

oh my it's cold outside. we aren't use to this cold. this winter tree reminds me of this weather. the background was painted first with tempera cake paints and then the tree was added later after the background was dry. the tree was painted with black acrylic to give it the stark dark blackness that makes it stand out from the rest.

2010-12-28T18:38:00.000-08:00

Wow, can you believe it! 2011! I just got used to writing 2010 and 11 will be here before we know it. I hope that's it's a creative year and that inspiration will be everywhere. I hope we can inspire each other as artists and art teachers, and pass on the wonderful gift of creativity to those who need it as much as we do. Go make art.

2010-12-22T06:49:00.000-08:00

Here's an art teacher blog directory for other art teacher blogs

2010-12-21T16:04:00.000-08:00

Before we left on vacation we were working on the backgrounds for our next project. The backgrounds are going to be either warm or cool colored tissue decoupaged onto white paper with watered down elmer's white glue. We will then add our subject matter (you'll see) on the top. More to come.......

2010-12-21T16:00:00.000-08:00

My jr. higher's organized a gingerbread/graham cracker house building day before school let out for vacation and here is just one of several results. They really had a good time, and of course there was lots of candy involved so who wouldn't have fun.

2010-12-17T05:18:00.000-08:00

Nothing like being home for the holidays. This idea came from Artsonia. The kids drew their houses for the holidays. and a line of pattern and the word home on the bottom. I like staying home on the holidays. I always think I am going to get so much done, and then the vacation just flys by. Happy Holidays. Hope your Christmas is great whether you stay home or take a trip.

2010-12-17T05:15:00.000-08:00

The Christmas program was themed "home for the holidays" so we made some cute houses that showed signs of being home for Christmas. Construction paper and gel pens.

2010-12-17T05:03:00.000-08:00

My 5th and 6th graders made artwork for the Christmas program. We got ideas from the website deepspacesparkle.com. Its a great site for art teacher ideas, and you can get lesson plans too. This snowman was created in oil pastel on blue construction paper and then we added snow with white tempera paint.

Baby Jesus all wrapped up in a warm quilt and halo and rosey cheeks.

Poinsettias sponge painted with tempera paints, also from deepspacesparkle.com

Art Sample

2010-12-04T23:24:00.000-08:00

Art Sample

2010-11-21T21:02:00.000-08:00

Wow! the school year is just flying by. Can't believe Thanksgiving break is here. We are inservicing for a couple of days, so I am looking forward to the team building and then, of course the break. I've been crafting for Mistletoe Mall this weekend, so I've got Christmas on my mind as well. Hope you are having happy thoughts about the upcoming holidays. Love, Jenn

Art Rooms

2010-11-17T16:53:00.000-08:00

I went to a couple of other art rooms today at other schools and really got inspired and pumped. I haven't been in other art teachers rooms in a while and it was neat to see what others were up to. I love it and learn so much. So inspired. So I say, go out and visit something you are interested in, or need to learn more about to make you and your job more successful.

2010-09-23T19:36:00.001-07:00

I spent the day here, at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. It was an amazing fieldtrip with my jr. highers. We saw lots of paintings and sculptures and the gardens and the views. Can't wait to go back again.

2010-08-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

Can't believe summer is almost over, it has gone by as fast as usual. Just a few more trips to the beach, and that will about do it. I made a list a week or so ago, of things I still wanted to get done, and now it's gettting down to the wire. Not going to complete it by the end of summer, but there is always the fall. hmmm.

2010-08-01T22:19:00.000-07:00

It makes an art teacher proud, when her students are in Chicago on vacation and they come across a piece of artwork that they recognize from art class and they text her and tell her they saw Alexander Calder's "Flamingo" and they send her a picture. Well at least two have been listening. I have the best job.

2010-06-16T22:41:00.001-07:00

Design Team challenge for the Red Bee: Create a 1 page layout using Smooch Spritz. I bought a wine purple color and sprayed a white sheet of paper with the word girl masked on top, then added stamps and paper and ribbons and buttons. Photo by Tara Whitney.

2010-06-05T13:41:00.000-07:00

C-R-E-A-T-E banner for swap on Amusing Muses and...

These are a swap return on Zetti Twinchies. These were really fun, so happy with my returns.

2010-05-28T16:39:00.000-07:00

Bad Blogger, Bad Blogger. Just noticed it's been almost a month since I updated my blog, which is not normally like me at all. But then I got to thinking, it's the end of the school year and things get really busy, right before the summer break and that's where I am right now. Just 11.5 days left of school for this year, wow, it's flown by at usual. Looking forward to sleepin in and going to the beach a lot. This pic is from a girl's weekend in Lake Arrowhead a couple of weeks ago. What fun.

2010-05-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all my special mom friends and to my mom. You are the thread that holds us together.