Simple Tip - Use Your Non-Dominant Hand

As I teach young ones each day I pay close attention to the process they use to create art, especially the intuitive process. Because my grades span from 3-6, I pick up on the distinct difference of a young child creating from pure imagination to the older child wanting to get it right and asking, "Does this look good?" In a very short time span kids seem to really lose the ability to create with reckless abandon and by the time the child has grown and become an adult, many of us lock ourselves into the notion of "I can't draw, I can't make that, I can't, I can't, I can't..." 

Giving ourselves permission to create without any expectations whatsoever, to simply play with our marks, our color, our lines, is VITAL for the artist. If only the child in our adult bodies was given permission. My#simpletip  of the day is to create something with your non dominant hand! Let go of expectations and play with your paints. Get back in touch with that part of you who's artistic voice was at one time.... POWERFUL! By using your non-dominant hand it forces you to give up control and simply let the line, pattern, and mark evolve. If you are really feeling your inner child, use your fingers too, :) 

These abstracts were made by my 3rd graders in our study of Kandinsky. They amaze me with the power of their artistic voice and I so pray that I will help them hold on to it for as long as possible. 

The Oyster Trail and Marine Life Lesson

Holy Cow it is going to be an amazing week in the art studio! Not only is it our Homecoming Week, but my 4th Graders have wrapped up their Marine Calendar paintings and I have had the great pleasure of teaching the kids about the Mobile Bar Pilots and their contribution to our Port City, as they are the sponsor of our oyster! As part of The Oyster Trail, I was asked to paint one of the oysters that will become part of the permanent trail downtown. My students are getting to experience the process of painting within a theme and learning all about Oysters and the bay! 

(The Alabama Schooner which will be part of the painted oyster!) 

I decided to let the students write their name in water soluble graphite or add a few brushstrokes to the base coats so that they could participate in the creation of the piece. When it is revealed, it will be part of the Oyster Trail which is a scavenger type activity in downtown Mobile, Alabama, revealing all of the oysters to date. 

This comes on the heals of my 4th graders working so hard to research sea life that lives in the Gulf as part of their entries into the Marine Calendar Contest. I love that the lessons link up and the students are all reaping the benefits of celebrating the variety that our coastal town has to offer. 
Each student completed an initial sketch, a base painting, and then worked on adding stippling and/or crayon and pencil to increase their depth and details. I have been wowed by what they accomplished in such a short time! 

 Looking forward to sharing more sneak peeks with you on how our oyster evolves! 

Love My Art Classroom!

I just need a moment to swoon folks! My classroom has been a work in progress since August and I finally have it flowing and set up where we are able to totally enjoy it. When we walk in we smile, when we make messes we grin and clean it up, and when we make fabulous artwork we cheer and lift one another up. Makes for a totally blessed day, blessed way of life, and I am deeply grateful to the big guy upstairs for the gift. 

My 6th Graders have been learning to isolate contour lines and then visually transfer the image without tracing. This is one of the best ways to teach students to draw quickly with great confidence so that when they tackle actual sketching and three dimensional drawing their brains already have markers in place. They are doing a great job! 

My 3rd Graders are finishing up their geometric robots and organic monsters on tar paper. They are turning out to be a total hoot! 

Hope you all have a blessed day friends! 

For The Love Of Table Paper

I am such a fan....make that....obsessed with table paper in an art room. Having paper accessible at all times to sketch, doodle, draw, and design with lines and color is so important to any artist, even the youngest ones. For the past few weeks we have been testing out the best paper to use based on what would last and be durable even through water spills. Newsprint was a big fail and butcher paper was a big win. 

Once the paper has been 'loved on' a good deal, or begins to tear, I change it out and then we begin to rip it up based on colors or patterns. Today, those piles were filled with yummy patterns and designs. This paper creates a wonderful record of what type of lines and styles the kids seem to love, and then we use it to collage with onto canvas. Here is a new piece that I worked on today in the classroom. I love the personality of this piece and it will hang in the administration office (once the flag is corrected, lol). 

Once we start creating with ceramics I might need to adjust the type of paper we are using but for today, the tables are full of yumminess! 

Next week we will be using some of this paper in our art journals as well, can't wait! 

Contour Drawing With Shaving Cream

#SimpleTips
Say the words "Shaving Cream" to a group of kids and what do you get? TOTAL EXCITEMENT! My 6th graders were introduced to contour lines last week and I knew I wanted to introduce them to contour sketching in real life this week. My choice was to use shaving cream for several reasons: It is tactile, It Is forgiving, and It smells yummy! 

The black plastic 'sketch sheets' are table cloth plastic I purchased from my local fabric store, for less than $2 a yard. The trick to success with this is not giving the students too much shaving cream. About two squirts is all it takes to make a 'thin' layer so that when students make their marks, the black lines show through. They spread the cream with a well loved gift card and then completed their contour sketches with a pointed wooden/plastic stick. 

The main goal of this activity is to teach the students to draw what they see, not what they think they see, which is really challenging for anyone who has never attempted contour sketching. The shaving cream is forgiving, so students can re-spread the cream out, and begin again. When we move into mixed media painting on canvases, they will already have the experience of manipulating a medium with gift card plastic so it preps them ahead of time for that. 

Adapting this lesson is a breeze. Younger students can use their fingers to sketch, practice mark making, and older students can create a much more detailed sketch. If you use Barbasol, the left over shaving cream can be molded into basic shapes and left overnight to dry out. As the moisture evaporates, it leaves a solid type of shape, which fascinates the students. 

(Students can use this process to practice handwriting, spelling, math, you name it!)

Tomorrow we graduate to blind contour sketches.....can't wait! 

Week Two with Kandinsky and Art Centers!

What an incredible second week of school it has been! My students have amazed me with their willingness to step out of their comfort zones and take some artistic risks, a lesson I wish more of us adults could learn as well. Students explored the 5 types of lines, contour lines and line transfers, patterns, mark making, layering to add artistic variety, and the importance of embracing the weird. We observed Kandinsky's use of line in his non-representational abstracts and will take a journey into painting to music next week. 

6th Grade started to use their sketchbooks and I introduced two of our centers, The Lego Wall of Fame and our Collaborative Art Center. I can't tell you how EXCITED I am about these two projects this year and can't wait to see how the students adapt and learn through the use of freedom of line and the unexpected direction of using Lego bricks to sketch with. 

Students are given a challenge such as "Create a Sketch With Stripes" which they complete using Lego Bricks. 

This is by far my favorite project! All of my art students and visitors to the classroom add marks and painting to our 200 yard collaborative art roll. At the end of the year, we will 'reveal the entire painting on the football field! Can't wait to see that!

Students worked on imaginative portraits during week one, showing emotion, using lines and layers, and embraced the weird  by adding the watercolor hair. I had seen a similar lesson Pinterest and must say, it was a riot of a great time trying this out during our first week. 

There is a ton of great things going on in the art room so far and every day I am blessed to walk through the door I have to say a prayer of gratitude for getting to teach in such an incredible place as St. Paul's! 

I started out the year with a study of line and of Wassily Kandinsky.

Teaching students how to enhance their artwork when they think they are finished is so vital! 

3rd Graders studied Kandinsky's use of various lines and made circular patterns with an individual twist! 

On a personal note, I have a new piece of artwork for the 1 X 4  Analogy show at Spring Hill College this coming month. I participated in the Yellow Show and created a hand painted collage while listening to Stravinsky over the week, so I aptly named this piece, "In Stravinsky's Image." There are four venues for this show, University of South Alabama, Spring Hill College, University of Mobile, and The School of Math and Science.  If you get a chance, put this on your list of must sees this next month. 

"In Stravinsky's Image" 12" by 36" collage on canvas

1 x 4: Analogy One exhibition, four venues. Green, Alabama School of Math and Science; Yellow, Spring Hill College; Neutral, University of Mobile; Blue, University of South Alabama. August 26 - Sept. 20.