Top Art Lesson Posts for 2011

I wanted to thank all my readers for your comments and visits to my blog. If you are a blogger yourself, you know the time it takes to write a post, edit pictures, create links, create a tutorial, etc... Sometimes I wonder why I do it;  but then I remember how inspired I've been by other art blogs out there and how excited my students get when they see their art online. I also love getting comments from my readers and knowing that I've helped them in some way-that really makes posting my lessons and student artwork worthwhile!

 If you are new to my blog, or a maybe a first time visitor, or even a regular.... I'm so glad you are here!  I'd like to take a few minutes and highlight some of my top/favorite posts from 2011. If you aren't a follower yet, will you PLEASE FOLLOW ME on blogger or on Facebook. There are lots of options for receiving my feeds in the right sidebar. My goal for 2012 is to revamp my blog, so bear with me while I try to figure out ways to offer my readers more creative content, in a more organized fashion. And as always, I'd love to have your feedback or suggestions. Here's a sampling of my favorites from the year-just click on the title to take you directly to the post.

Art Journals for Kids

Tips for Acrylic Painting with Kids

Mixed Media Bird Cages

Painting Peacocks with Acrylics

Folk Art Neighborhood Paintings

Expressing Yourself with Clay

Drawing and Painting Pumpkins

Potato Stamping Family Portraits

Thanks for visiting and comeback in 2012!!!!!!

A Thank You to my Top Referring Art Lesson Blogs

I wanted to wrap up 2011 by thanking all the wonderful art blogs who not only inspire, challenge and help me, but send me new readers my way each day.

Thanks so much to my top referring blog buddies!  Here's my countdown (drum roll, please). Be sure to check out these great blogs if you haven't yet, or if it's been awhile:


6) Deep Space Sparkle Art Lessons for Kids. This blog has wonderful pictures, tons of lessons and great PDF lesson tutorials you can purchase for a minimal price-believe me they are worth it. I love her art and literature lessons!

5) Lines, Dots and Doodles  has a variety of creative lessons ideas from elementary students.

4)Mary Making features highlights from Mary's elementary art classes, and is one of my favorites with innovative and original lesson ideas.

3)Painted Paper In The Art Room has fun, colorful and original painted paper projects, art and literature lessons and more!

2) Teach Kids Art gives great photos and instructions with almost every project post! Great site with a variety of lesson ideas for parents, art teachers and home schoolers.

1) And my TOP referring blog friend is....... Art Projects for Kids has class tested lessons for K5 and beyond. Kathy's blog is organized, easy to navigate, packed with lesson ideas and she has wonderful mural PDFs you can purchase.

Thank You again soooo much! I am so honored that each of you would list me in your side bar and send your readers my way.  My best wishes for a wonderfully artistic year in 2012!

Painting Christmas Trees

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It's so simple to learn how to paint a beautiful Christmas tree. I did a mommy and me post a couple years ago, and we used the same technique here, just deleted the stencil part and drew a triangle for our tree. These are painted in acrylic paints on a 16 x 20 canvas. Students were 1st through 4th grade and completed them in a 1-1/2 hour workshop.

We used Metallic gold and copper paint for the background.

Three colors of green and sea sponges to do the texture on the Christmas trees.

 

Then they have a blast adorning their tree!

I have more Painting Santa workshops too-here's some more awesome Santas!

Painting Lesson Using Texture

Art Lessons with Texture are one some of my favorite to teach and create. They are always a big hit with the students; they are messy and a new experience for most. Here's a simple art lesson idea that combines texture and color to make great abstract art.

I always use modeling paste, but it can be fairly expensive. Joint compound and paintable caulking will also work as a less expensive option. Spread paste on a board or hardboard canvas like you were icing a cake. I had all sorts of stamps, lids, bubble wrap, etc., available to make designs and imprints into the paste. Divide board into sections, if you want, and do each section a different texture. Let dry completely-usually takes about 48 hours.

This is also a great lesson to introduce the color wheel and discuss some basic color theory.

Have students decide on a color scheme for their painting.

It's hard to tell in this picture, but after the paint dried, we used metallic paint and dry brushed over the top. It really makes the texture "pop". 

This is a great way to make some cool art for your home too. I did a post awhile back on Easy Art to Create For Your Home; it's so easy and inexpensive to make your own art as decor!

Painting Santas

Time to get in the Christmas Spirit, right.......

I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet.

But I take the month of December off from teaching art, and blogging, so I can focus on my own kiddos, and create Christmas Crafts with them, like cookies, gingerbread houses, salt dough ornaments, etc.

Here's some results from my first Santa painting workshop that I've ever done. These kids were kindergarten through 3rd grade. Thought they created some beautiful Santa's! We used my Santa Painting at the top of the post as our inspiration piece.

These were done in acrylics on a 16 x 20 canvas, and were completed in a 2-hour workshop.

Want to paint on of these with your little elves this Christmas? Check out my Tips on Paintings with Kids.

Art and Children's Literature

Some of my favorite books are the "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a..... Pie, Fly, etc..." series. They are so much fun! Here's a fun little enrichment art lesson I did with my daughter's first grade class. And let me just say how much I am amazed by you art teacher's out there who teach more than 7 kids at a time, like I normally do. I taught 19 kids for this lesson and I was worn out! I learned a lot though-always a great experience to teach in a different setting. The kids were great, but 19 asking for help is a little overwhelming when you're used to smaller numbers!

Here's my sample. I drew my foods on separate paper and then we taped them onto the plate as the teacher read the story. There are a lot of enrichment opportunities with this, and I'm sure you academic teachers out there could think of even more, but here's what I came up with. We had a visual for memory of story order; we talked about what kind of story (fiction or non); we talked about traditions in our own homes; and talked about our own favorite Thanksgiving foods and what food groups they were in. We also had fun imagining our own stories as they made themselves with big bellies of food. You could also introduce fractions with the pie plate sections. 

I told the students to draw themselves instead of the old lady. I instructed them to draw in pencil first on a large piece of construction paper. Then they used crayons to go over the pencil lines and filled in with watercolor paints.

We listed their favorite foods on the board and I drew some of them out for them. Then they drew their favorites on their plate and colored them in. The plates are attached with a metal brad so they turn as you tell your own story.

Happy Thanksgiving! Don't eat too much!

Linking up my story art up over at:

http://www.amommysadventures.com/