Mixed Media Hearts

I wanted to share these Jim Dine inspired mixed media hearts made by my fifth graders. They are are colorful, fun and unique--just like the kids who created them. We made these on recycled cardboard tiles, approximately 4 x 6 inches in size.

First we applied a layer of gesso, and then used tempera paint for the heart and background. I instructed the children to use a contrast of warm and cool colors. We spent a day painting papers with tempera paint, texture tools, and foam stamps.

We used our papers to add a collage element to the entire piece. After the paper was added, we added some more color with oil pastels and sharpies. Last, but not least, we sealed with a glossy coat of Modge Podge. 

I'm planning on putting up all 85 of these on a bulletin board in the 5th grade hall. I'll be sure to post pics on Facebook when I get it done. My only regret was that it wasn't done in time to enjoy the entire month of February. There's always next year, right?!

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Kid's Recycle Art Workshop

This week I just finished holding an amazing Recycled Art Workshop. And when I say amazing, I don't mean my workshop, but I'm referring to the amazing creative kids that attended. Using all "trash" and a little inspiration, they took the info I presented to them and ran with it. I was really amazed at the unique creativity of each piece of art.

Here's project one of three.  Thanks to Pinterest, I found this great idea for Recycled Picasso Portraits by United Art & Education. Just click the previous link and they have a wonderful tutorial to follow.

Using "trash" like cardboard boxes, phone book pages, paper and fabric scraps, old magazines, discarded buttons, and paper bags, along with some basic art supplies like glue, scissors, construction paper and oil pastels, students created these amazing portraits. 

I can't tell you how much they enjoyed coloring on the cardboard with the oil pastels! If you ever want to entertain a child, give them something textured to color on :)

Click Photo for details

Love these Crayola Oil Pastels for classes!

I also encouraged them to use a warm/cool color combo for the back ground verses the foreground.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Painting Mermaids

These are done with acrylic paints...

20 x 16 stretch canvas...

Sketched in mermaid design with watered down paint...

Focused on brush strokes using lots of cool colors...

Added our "bling"...

Love the colors in these! My students suggested the wild hair colors!

These were painted by 2nd - 5th grade students.

They painted them in a two hour workshop.

Painting Fun Fish

This painting project is perfect for summer and allows student to use their imagination, learn about mixing color, and master basic drawing and acrylic painting techniques.

First we painted a 20 x 16 stretch canvas with cool colors for the water.

Next, using white chalk, students learned about geometric and organic shapes and then used their creativity to design their own fish. I always have students practice drawing first on a piece of paper so they can plan their design before putting it onto the canvas. Baby wipes work great to make any corrections to chalk or paint.

Next, we outlined everything with white acrylic paint, and then mixed our colors by adding white to our primary and secondary colors to make some beautiful new color tints.

After this was dry, we had to add some bling to our fish. We embellished using gems, sequins, and glitter glue. I guess this makes it a mixed media piece, right?

Lots of great teachable moments with this painting and the girls really seemed to have fun with it. I love seeing the individual designs. This project could also be adapted easily to a larger classroom setting by using paper and tempera paints. Students who painted these are between the ages of 6 and 10.

Drawing and Painting Pumpkins

Here's a fun fall project where you can introduce numerous concepts like; lines, shading, and warm/cool colors. First, I teach students how I draw a pumpkin. I always teach that before you paint to practice your drawing and plan your painting. And I love talking about painting fruits, and stress that there's not such thing as a "perfect" pumpkin. They can be fat, tall, bumpy, lop-sided, etc. Students painted on a 12 x 12 stretched canvas with acrylic paints.

We added a little green puff paint for the vines and tricked out our edges with stripes. Students were kindergarten through 2nd grade (one fourth grader), and completed their paintings in a 2-hour workshop.