Holiday Wishes

Happy Holidays!  Wishing you an abundance of joy, happiness, prosperity, and good health throughout the holidays and all year long!

Reindeer for Kinders

Are you looking for an easy lesson you can do today?  I L-O-V-E these kindergarten interpretations of a guided drawing lesson found at Artventerous and the kiddies loved it two.

What is your current favorite winter time art lesson?

Flags

U.S. Silver Medalist, Devin Logan visited our school this week and we wanted to welcome her in grand style.  Devin is a local girl.  Not only local to Vermont, but right here in Vermont.  She's a friend and a neighbor to many of our students and an inspiration to all.  We really wanted to acknowledge her accomplishment in slope style skiing and help her celebrate her win.  Her visit came together rather quickly and I had only one day to pull together something fun and festive.  We made a pile of welcome posters...and these flags which stole the show. Strung together the look adorable festooning the hall.  

 Here's a cute video to watch if you are feeling especially patriotic.

Welcome Spring

Happy first day of spring everyone.  Don't you love the fleeting days of springtime when the world bursts back into bud and bloom?  Well worth the wait, I think and a magical time to be in Vermont.  I'm celebrating by planting seeds and tending the seedlings that will become our summer garden.  Here's The Green Man that lived in the yard for a little while last summer.  White clay and buttercups, he lived on the trunk of the tree that gave us a bounty of sour cherries last year.  We made those cherries into that sensational Cherry Brandy that we shared last Christmas Eve.  If you want the recipe leave a comment and I'll hunt it down.

How to Make a Symmetrical Image in PhotoShop....

I'm adding this to my list of cool things I can do in PhotoShop.  Here's how to do it...

1. Open your image

2. Select> All

3. Edit> Copy

4. Image>Canvas Resize> Shift focal point to left center> 200% wide> Enter

5. Edit> Paste

6  Edit> Transform> Filp Horizontal

7. Use move tool at top left tool bar to position image

8. Layer> Flatten Image

Save.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wx_eFdCVwE

How about you?  What are your favorite photoshop tricks or tips?

Sub-Kit

sorry, couldn't locate a source for this photo

This might take a while to complete (I rarely take a sick day), but I found my newest and best (I think) ever sub plan. Are you like me?  I rarely plan for those days when I have to be out and end up dashing around madly pulling things together last minute and being hectic when least want to.  

This image inspired me to put a sub kit together that includes a lesson plan, markers and pre-cut papers. Now I'm always prepared with a grab and go lesson.  The entire project stays in the box until 500 (or thereabouts) papers are collected and a final design is made.  

The hands look fabulous, but I think we'll change it up a bit.  Peace Sign? Dove? Butterfly? What would you do?

  

Winter Favorites

Two winter time favorites to post today in celebration of our Valentine Day Blizzard.  While my 1/2 art classes were painting winter cardinals my 3/4 classes were finishing up their snowman paintings.  I love both of these painting projects and repeat them every couple of years because the results are just so stinkin' cute.  You really can't go wrong with either of these.

Pre-School Snip and Print Valentine

A taped area on the table is painted pink and red.  On the paint we place our paper hearts.  

We roll the paper and pull our prints.

Some Days Are Just Better Than Others

Some days are just better than others.  There's no way around it and today was just one of those days.  Look at what we made.  This giant heart has stolen my heart and was the icing on the cake.  We started with two giant sheets of paper.  The top sheet was folded and a heart shape was cut out of it.  Leftover paints were used for the printing.  Nothing special, just what was in the palettes from a previous lesson.  We used red, white, blue, orange and black and mixed the colors right on our hands to get these fabulous tints and funderful shades.

When we got tired of stamping we lifted the stencil to  see what we got.  Looks like we got something really special.  Happy Valentine's Day

Paper Bag Journal

Third graders made these paper bag sketchbooks at the beginning of the year to show off their lettering skills and to bring home a book to collect their drawings and memories.  We talked about things the way artists use sketchbooks not only to draw, but also as a place to collect bits of inspiration.  These books are perfect for collecting because when the bags are folded the opening creates a set of secret pockets in the book for storing small items.  The bottom of the bag, the part that is folded over, makes a flap in the book that is a fun addition.

We used four bags for our book.  The bags have to be hole-punched one at a time.  I folded a piece of paper cut to the size of the binding and punched it twice for the children to use a template.  Finished with a  an easy rubber band and popsicle stick binding.

Fast and Easy - Cars, Trucks and Bikes

A few fast and easy resources for students interested in drawing cars, trucks, and other vehicles.

This video shows an easy way to turn a 2-D drawing into a 3-D drawing

Watch the video and try it for yourself.  

Hint:  A photo to use as a reference  is helpful.

Want to Draw Motorcycles?

How to Draw a Motorcycle in 5 Steps can help.

Look at this great graphic I found on the web