Inspiration for lessons-top 5

So how do I get inspiration for my art lessons?

Here's my top 5 sources (drum roll, please)....

1) Other art lesson blogs, art websites and craft blogs. Since I'm on 5's today, here's 5 of my favorites (of course, there are so many good ones it's hard to narrow it down, so also be sure and check out my regular reads in the left sidebar). I would love to add your link if it's not there! I also love looking at the lesson plans at Dick Blick.

*Deep Space Sparkle

*Art Projects for Kids

*Mary Making

*Incredible Art Department

*Teach Kids Art

2) Art lesson books. The library has tons of great books I've checked out for lesson inspirations. Occasionally, I run across one with fabulous pictures and projects and I just HAVE to own. Here's a pic of a lesson I adapted from one of my favorites, Dynamic Art Lessons for Children*.

3) Paintings I've tried and work of other artists. Once I figure out how to do something and it "clicks", I love explaining it to others. After painting still life pears, I knew I could simplify it enough to teach kids to paint them too. Also, when I run across fun art created by others, I always think about teaching children how to recreate it in a lesson. For example, I love Tricia Robinson's art and follow her blog Little Redhead. Her Dress Art inspired my Proverbs 31 lesson.

4) The Arkansas Young Arkansas Artists Exhibition I love taking my own kids to this each year and seeing all the amazing art created by children around our state. I always take notes and have gotten some great ideas for lessons.

5) Kids. They come up with great ideas of things they want to learn to draw, paint or create. One of my advanced classes begged me to paint pet portraits (result-dog painting above). My own kids have also come home with wonderful projects from school that I can elaborate on or adapt to a different medium.

I would love to hear from you about where you get your inspiration for your art lessons, or even your own art! Follow me in the upcoming months as I elaborate more on each one of these, and show you more new examples of art lessons I've tried!

*Advertisement disclaimer-I only use advertisements inside my posts and recommend products when it is something that I have actually used and found helpful with my lessons or in my own life/art. I do not do it solely for monetary gain, and all money earned from this site goes to support our sponsor children at Compassion International.

Painting Pears

This is one of my favorite painting lessons that I do with kids. I usually do it in my summer workshops. I wish I had more pictures of the process, but I don't. It's a great lesson to introduce shadows and highlights and mixing colors. We paint on a 16 x 20 canvas with acrylic. I instruct students to paint BIG. I also demonstrate how to draw a pear (start out with a bigger circle on bottom and a smaller circle on top, then connect the curves). This painting usually takes 2-3 hours. The results are always adorable and work of art that parents love to hang in their home.

Folk Art Neighborhoods

I loved this lesson that I saw at Lines, Dots and Doodles on Folk Art Neighborhoods. Her lesson was inspired by Karla Gerard-I just loved her artwork! It inspired me try it with my kids for some artwork for our playroom. We used acrylic paint and stretched canvas. Here's the play by play.

The small one on the top right was done by my 6 year old.

The bottom right was painted by my 9 year old. The larger left painting is mine. We had so much fun painting these!