This is my new favorite Kindergarten art project and it only took three 30 minute art classes!

We began this colorful project by learning about abstract art.  When I explain abstract art to the younger grades, I tell them that it is art with lots of lines, colors and shapes but nothing recognizable.  There is no cat or house, etc.  I was proud to hear that after this first class, students were using markers to create abstract art in their classroom during free time.  The first day of this project, students used lots of warm colors like yellow, pink and orange to fill their paper with color.  They used tempera paints and different tools such as sponge brushes, stamps, marker caps, cardboard scraps, etc to create a colorful abstract painting.  The second day, they did the same thing but used cool colors such as blue, turquoise and green and added layers of patterns on top of the warm colors.  They were instructed to just have fun and experiment.  

On the third day of class, we added a black tree silhouette on top of our abstract paintings.  I demonstrated what a silhouette is by having a student stand in front of a window and then turning off the light so they were heavily backlit by the sun, creating a dark silhouette of the students body.  
I also showed them how to paint trees by first painting a large tall triangle in the middle of the paper and adding big branches reaching to the sky.  Then they added little branches reaching to the sky off of the big branches.  Watching the students paint these trees was really magical as if seeing their artwork really come to life.  

​I absolutely LOVE how this art project turned out and am proud of the students for being so exploratory and brave as they tried new things in the art room. 

For more information about the process of creating these awesome Georgia O'keeffe-inspired flowers, see my blog post from a few years ago
​ ​http://anniesartroom.weebly.com/elementary-art/2nd-grade-georgia-okeefe-flowers

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The kids LOVE this project.  This is the second year I've taught it (though last year we did birds) and the students have a blast making them and the results are colorful and exciting.

This project definitely takes a couple hours of prep work by me but is totally worth it.  Before beginning this project, I cut coardboard into a ton of different shapes such as ovals, triangles, diamonds, circles, etc.  I make sure I have a bunch of large body shapes (they are between like 8" to 14") and a bunch of smaller pieces for fins, tails and eyes.  If I have 30 students, I make like 35 of each so that they each have a choice.  Even with box cutters this is pretty time consuming, but that's ok with me.

The first day of this project, students each go to different piles of the cardboard pieces and play with the pieces arranging them until they have a fish shape they like.  I tell each student that they must have a tail and at least two fins.  Once they come up with a design they like, they use Elmer's glue all to attach the pieces.  

The second class, we begin painting.  The tail is one color, the fins are each one color and the body is painted with large stripes.  The stripes can go horizontal, vertical or diagonal, whichever they prefer.  Some students even do squiggly stripes.  

The third class, they use other colors to paint patterns over the stripes.  Also, they paint and attach the eye(s).

This is a super quick, super successful project and I will probably do something like this every year (maybe robots next year?)...

 If you're anything like me, you may struggle to come up with projects for Pre-K that are both engaging and age appropriate.

This project, let me tell you, has been one of the most successful that I've done with this age.  I absolutely love the end result and seeing how each students artwork turns out so unique.  They really enjoyed the process too and got a little messy along the way.

Students each started with a long strip of paper, probably 6" x 18".  I cut up strips of poster board so they would be nice and sturdy but any paper would work fine.  

They started by using a blue crayon, laying it on it's side and rubbing it all over the paper to create the sky.  Some students selected dark blue while others chose light blue and some even chose more of a seafoam color.  

Before they begin printing and adding the flowers, I cut up a bunch of cardboard into little squares and rectangles.  I put a paint tray on each table with three different shades of green and they use the edges of the rectangles to print 'grass' all along the bottom of the paper.  They also did a few tall grasses to use next time for their flower stems.

During the next class, I prep the same by cutting new rectangles and squares from cardboard and also provide them with some old pencils, maker tops, etc.  This time I give them a few colors to choose from that will work well with flowers.  I used yellow, orange, pink and purple this year.  

After discussing how there are tons of different types of flowers, they went to town creating their own flowers.  This is where the students really had fun and their individuality began to shine.  There were big flowers, little flowers, silly flowers, realistic flowers, etc.

I absolutely love how these turned out, look at some of these awesome flowers!

 This project is one of my favorites that I have ever done!

The students all felt super successful and it is a really fun process.  I wish I had done a better job of documenting the first few steps but I'll explain it anyhow.

You can get a copy of a similar lesson plan of mine by clicking here. 

We began this by doing observational drawings of a bunch of different plants.  I borrowed houseplants from my fellow teachers classrooms for this.  The students did multiple large contour line drawings of the plants, mostly focusing on the leaves.

The next step is to trace the drawing with Sharpie and then put the drawing underneath a piece of wax paper and a piece of white fabric over that.  The wax paper is crucial so that the glue doesn't go to the fabric and stick to the drawing or to the table.  Tape it all to a table of board so that it doesn't move.  After taping it down, you will be able to see the drawing through the fabric.  Use blue gel glue to trace over the drawing onto the fabric.  I've tried other glues as well and others work but the blue gel glue is absolutely the best.  

Let the glue dry completely.  Overnight is the best.  Once it is totally dried, use watered down acrylic (or fabric) paints to paint over the entire fabric.  Be sure to cover the glue with paint too.  This assures that you have a great batik effect with strong white lines.  

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Again, let it dry completely. 

The next step is to run warm/hot water and fill a bin.  Separate the fabric from the wax paper and drawing.  Soak the fabric for at least 10 minutes.  After about 10-20 minutes, use hands to rub all of the excess glue.  

Once the glue is completely removed from the fabric, rinse it in warm water and hang it to dry. 

The images turn our very vivid and colorful!  You can see how each students design turned out very different.  I gave them a limited color palette to work with since they will be used to make a quilt.  

I wish I could take credit for the next step but I passed the batiks over to my friend and she took care of the rest.  She sewed it all into this fabulous quilt.  I love it sooooo much and wish I could keep it forever....but we sold it at the school auction.  

What a great project!  

These landscape paintings took the students about 7 classes to finish and so many students really poured their heart into their artwork.  I saw 5th graders totally immersed in the process and lots of students being courageous trying new techniques.

We began this project by looking at photographs of the lovely landscape where we live.  Our school is less than a mile from the Blue Ridge Parkway and being in Asheville, we are a few minutes drive from these gorgeous mountain views.  
We looked at photographs of mountain landscapes during sunrise, mid-day and sunset.  I helped direct a conversation about the three layers that are seen in each (background, midground, foreground) and about how during the different times of day, the colors are different in each layer.  

Students began this project by drawing a sketch first and using colored pencils to show what colors they would be using.  I told them that I should be able to tell what time of day it was just by looking at their sketches and seeing what colors they selected.
Next they drew two lines across their canvases to separate the image into the three layers-background, midground, foreground.  
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I'm annoyed that I didn't take any photos of the next step, but they each selected just one color for each layer and painted in each layer.   Many of the kids were very confused about this step and ha a hard time grasping why they would choose just ONE color to paint a layer when there are obviously so many more colors.
I reassured them that many artists work in a similar way and that it provides a base color as they add in more layers  and details of other colors. 

We used acrylic paints for this project that I pre-mixed.  I had about 30 different colors set out for them.  I just put lids on them between classes to keep them wet. 

Next, we began adding other colors and details to the background.  They started by painting the colors that are seen in the sky (not the clouds) and practiced blending the colors together with wet paint and water.  Once that was finished, the students added the clouds.  They focused on the main color of the clouds and added shadows.  Most students spent 2-3 whole class periods working on the background.  After we were completely finished with this project and I asked students their favorite part of this, almost all students said the sky was the most fun (and most challenging).

Students used the same technique on their midground and foreground.  We talked about painting in the base colors that they see then adding in details and shadows.  

On the foreground, students made sure to make the trees, flowers, etc that were further back smaller than what was closer.

I absolutely LOVE how these landscapes turned out.  Each student's unique style really shines.  They worked hard and were very engaged during these paintings.  I am a very proud art teacher!

I love birds!  Very much, which is why I was so happy about finding this blog post on pinterest one day!

I decided to do the project with my energetic 2nd graders and just as I imagined, they loved it!

Before the students arrived for class, I cut up a bunch of different sized and shaped pieces of cardboard.  There were pieces as big as 18 inches and some as small as 4 inches.  I cut out a bunch of organic shapes and a few circles/ovals for eyes.

To begin the project, I showed students a slideshow of some local Asheville folk artists who paint birds and we talked about how the artists simplify the birds into shapes.

After the slideshow, students rummaged through the cardboard pieces and layered them together to create a simplified bird image.  Once they came up with a design they were pleased with, they used Elmer's glue-all to attach the pieces.

The next class, after the glue had dried, students began by painting the head one color, the wings one color, the beak one color, the tail one color, etc.  The body was painted in thick stripes of color.

To finish this project, students used other colors to paint patterns over the bird.  

This project was short and sweet, it only took three classes.  The students had a blast and the birds turned out SO cool!

((To see last year's post of this project, click here.))

One of our cross divisional Arts team two year goals is to have every grade level from K-12 create some sort of a collaborative visual arts project.  I haven't done this quite yet with every grade yet, but am excited about this abstract collaborative project done for the second year with 2nd grade.

We looked at images of Kandinsky's artwork and together as a team, students spent four class periods creating these large abstract paintings.  For more information about the process, click the link above.

To create these beautiful Georgia O'keeffe-inspired drawings, students began by observing (artificial) flowers and doing large pencil drawings on 12" x 18" paper so that the image filled the whole page.  Before beginning, we looked at images of O'keeffe's amazing artwork and reflected on her quote "I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for."

The next step was to use acrylic paint to paint the background space of the work.  This was inspired by O'keefe's style of painting her backgrounds very simply and often just one color.  

​Students used oil pastels to color the flowers and outlined with black.  
This project took just two class periods and was very successful.  A great end-of-year project!

To learn about tints, shades, and complementary colors, 4th grade students created colorful radial paintings.

When the students came into class, I had written on the board:

Tint=___________________+_____________________
Shade=_________________+_____________________
Complementary colors=_______________________________________

We discussed how these different words are used in conversation.  Shades are another word for sunglasses.  Shade is the area that is hidden from the sun and is in shadows.  A 'compliment' is when you tell someone you like something about them.  Tint is a word used when windows are darkened (unfortunately this is misleading).

In art terms, a Tint is a color plus white.
A Shade is a color plus black.
Complementary colors are those opposite of each other on the color wheel.  For instance,  orange and blue are complements, red and green are complements, and yellow and purple are complements.

Students each began by doing a complementary colors.  They chose the two complements they wanted to use and began by painting one color dot on their page.  Next they added just a teeny tiny bit of the complementary color to that color, mixed it well, then painted a thin ring around the dot.  Next, again, they added a teeny tiny bit of the complementary color, mixed it well, then painted a ring around the first.  Students continued this until they filled up the entire sheet of paper.  

The next class students did the same technique with tints and shades.  For the tints, students started with a white dot in the center and slowly added a color to it.  For the shade, students began with a color dot in the middle and slowly added black.

To finish up this project, students each selected their two (of the three) favorite paintings and glued them down on black paper together.  While they were doing this, I heard multiple students saying things such as "My mom is going to love this" and "These turned out so pretty" and other joyful exclamations!