Gustav Klimt inspired "Tree of Life" mixed media

 I just recently finsihed a longterm substitute teaching position at an elementary school.
We looked at the " Tree of  Life" mosaic mural by gustav Klimt. I used a powerpoint and projected it via the computer on to a large flat screen television.
We looked at the orginal Tree of Life Mural.

Then we looked at several forms of reproductions of the image so that student could see how popular the image is.

We first learned about using brushes properly and I showed students how to drag the brush to make thicker lines and how to lift it up toward the tip to make smaller lines.

We then talked about blending and layering colors and using art stix for the background. The last step was adding on some sequins with glue

So many snowman so little time

 So I have not always been the biggest snow man fan. I know some people are all about the little guys but in the past  I was not as affected by the snowman craze. This year I have been bitten by a snowman bug it seems.

 I have been making a lot of snowman projects. I have created snowman earrings with polymer clay and  we be making many different snowman projects with the students in the after school program.

In the classroom while subbing I have also carried over this snowman craze of mine.

In the classroom student have been painting simple white outlines on blue construction paper to make snowman collages with.  They paint the snowman first then later glue on the button and precut construction paper hats and noses and foil paper scarfs.

We  have also been making snowman collages with students and using a template I found on Big Activities.Their is even a great step by step with visuals directions page you can print out.

The results vary and although the worksheets are identical students have unique perspectives on how their finished snow person will look.

So when you are teaching projects on snowmen you have to have some snowman earrings. These are easy to make but if you would like a pair to wear without the time it takes to make them you can order a custom made pair on my sculptresslink etsy shop.

I even made a snowman math activity for the after school program.
this is from an old curriculum guide I had. To do this first make copies of the snowmen,then cut them out color them in and write math problems on their bellies then glue sticks to them and write the answers on the bottom of the sticks. Then decorate a shallow box and put holes in the top to hold the sticks and the box will conceal the answers,

Easy, affordable ornaments/ hanging sculptures

 I have been making ornaments with my students in the art gallery program and the after school program. I even used the first one as a station project when substitute teaching for art. These are quick easy and affordable.

primary color scheme ornament

 The first one is a paper ornament. Any paper will do but card stock will work the best .You could also recycle thin card board boxes from tissue or cereal(already patterned on one side, less coloring).  These are two same size circles sliced in half and and the slices slide together. I traced the bottom of a cup for these ones. I use one piece of  scotch tape where the pieces connect then pop it back put 1 hole punch at the top of the bottom circle which has the slit facing upward to hang the ornament. If you are making a couple tracing the circles is easy enough. For use in the classroom I recommend tracing a sheet of circles drawing the slits and using the copier to run sheets of circles and then cut them in groups of twos.

Secondary color scheme ornament

Step 1 Trace circles
Step 2 Cut out circles
Step 3 Color front and back of circles with markers, crayons. pencils etc.
 Step 4 Slide slits together
Step 5 Hole punch the top of the bottom circle( the one with the slits facing up)
Step 6  Tie yarn or ribbon through the hole
Step 7 Secure center circles with small piece of clear scotch tape or white glue where they meet up.




 Card board tube ornaments

Cardboard tube ornament painted with acrylics

 Thinner cut version of ornament

 These project uses card board tubes from paper towel or toilet paper.  You can choose to cut the tube into  thicker pieces 1 inch to 2 or thin1/2 inch pieces.  I have included pictures of a few finished ones to give you some ideas.


Step1   Choose to make an ornament with 3,4,5 or 6 pieces.

Three piece ornament

Five piece ornament

 

Six piece ornament

Step 2  Press the tube flat to make the cutting easier, cut the piece of the tube so they are all the same size.
Step3   Hole punch the pieces at one end in the middle of the piece.
Step 4  Decorate the cardboard pieces with paint, markers etc.
Step 5   Thread yarn or ribbon through the holes and tie them tight together so they pop out.
Step 6  Choose the top the the ornament and tie a loop of yarn or ribbon through it to hang it from.

The thing I like about these is that they fast, easy and can be personalized any way you want. These do not have to be a "holiday project." They are good for gifts, party favors, or for teaching: color schemes, 3d vs 2d,spatial reasoning, numbers and counting, sculptural elements and positive and negative space.

Pumpkin collages

This a quick one day project you can finish it in under a half hour.Prep time goes quick with use of a paper cutter. I cut orange construction paper into strips 1 to 2 inches wide and smaller strips of green paper. Students had a choice of stacking strips horizontally or vertically and rounding off the edges to create the shape of their pumpkin. some choose to let the black background paper show through and others did not. I let the students choose if their pumpkins would have a face or not.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrt Matties Making Treasure Maps

These are so much fun to make and they are fairly easy. I have done this lesson with kindergarten and first graders. Start with plain white paper and draw the "island" and map with crayons. Be sure to include the x for where the treasure is buried. Other things to add can be a pirate ship, mermaids,palm trees and mountains. After you have draw the image tear the edges of the paper off to give it that old aged look. step three paint a thin wash of brown and yellow paint.

Monkey see monkey do

 I was subbing for a elementary school which was working on a scrap box collage assignemnt. The assignment choose a scrap of construction paper and then glue it onto white paper. Then draw the picture around it. Students saw mine(first one and see what they came up with....

Something Fishy

 I was in for a art teacher whom I have been subbing for for some time now.. I had to fill in for her for a few days the assignment was to create ocean creatures and sea life.  The students had several step by step drawing books to look at and  we watched several National Geographic clips for inspiration on the large classroom television monitor.  Several students wanted to include sharks, other options were squish fish and octopus. As the assigment progressed I rounded out the requiremnts to create a more complete compostion within the sea life drawings. I encouraged students to include plants and to vary the height and type of plants.I created an example poster and  put the requirments on it. I also demonstrated how to blend and high light the colors on the sea creatures using colored pencil and Art Stix. I reminded student to consider light source even though the scene is underwater.

Trying to reach the untouchable kid

 There are some kids who just do not want to do anything. They would rather crumple up paper or doodle... The doodling I am not opposed to if other things are completed.  But wasting paper arrrrgh!

I try to find ways to take this "time wasting" and make it into something productive.Being a substitute teacher means an entire day of mostly just putting kids back in line and dealing with behavior issues. Some days it has little to do with making art or teaching. I try to reach those kids that have already decided they don't want to be reached. The kids that gave up on trying... It is a real challenge especially when subbing. Kids know they may never see you again, you can't always call their parents and you most times you can't write them up bad behavior because you do not have referral forms. With longer sub jobs I do call parents and do write up. Short term I  leave detailed noted for teachers to address issues I figure they have more leverage then me.

So anyways today, these kids were just crumpling up paper and throwing in the garbage trying to make baskets. I took one of them off the floor. I took an oil pastel did a texture rubbing of it and then used the folds to direct my art. Of of the kids said that it reminded her of a seed pod.(she had just been working on her science homework...so I guess that was the connection). It was a study hall I did not manage to get them to try it but at least I gave myself an outlet and inspired conversations with middle schools kids that briefly that were not about dating other middle school kids. I used a few more of these crumpled sheets of paper through out the day and used oil pastel rubbing the peeks of the folded paper with oil pastel kids would talk to me about what I was doing and ask the questions art subs often get asked like: "What are you doing?""Are you a real artist or are you a real art teacher?"

Rain rain go away. I had planned to go and paint today!!!!

Mural painting will have to wait today.Rain has delayed us from working on the mural last Tuesday and today does not look any better. Tuesday nights 4-7 has been our scheduled time. We are going to have to do some weekends to. What really upsets me about today is I got called for a sub job and did not take it because it would have made me get back after 4:oo and conflicted with painting time.So now we can't paint and I missed a job that I really could have used for days towards my teaching cert.
Hoping to paint this Sunday.