Finished Big Big Cats

2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade finsihed working on their Big Big Cats last week. Here are a few of the finished products. Students outlined and added details with oil pastels when finsihed. Some students drew girraffes and zebras in the background along with the Acatia trees. We used gold and copper tempra for the grass. I am sort of obsessed with metallic tempra paint. It's different, the kids like it, and it just adds an element of surprise and interest to a painting!

BIG BIG CATS!!

Do you ever feel like you could write a book of facts on a particular subject after teaching something over and over to group after group! Ask me about Big Cats!! "Why don't you look at the book when you read it, Mrs. Waggenspack" they ask. I guess its because I've read it four billion times!
So we are painting Big Cats on Big paper. Students have lots of pictures to look at. I show them how to draw a basic big cat face, then we look at the special markings on different cats.
All students are required to draw the iris, pupil, and reflection of light on any face we draw. We focused on using a dry brush for texture/fur, creating value by blending colors from light to dark, and using our watercolor knowledge for the background. We used tempra on the cat and watercolor and oil pastels on the background.


Some kids added interesting details like a fresh kill






First the students outline their drawings with a dark brown or dark orange.







Then they add light colors (yellow, white, light orange) to blend the edges from dark to light

We used my favorite super bright liquid watercolors from sargent to paint the background. I also let them use gold tempra in the grass and I put gold glitter paint in the orange paint to add a subtle sparkle to the cats! Kids LOVE anything that sparkles!!

I will post more cats as more groups finish them.

Still Pregnant??

I love when kids make sweet pictures for me. Especially when they give me a hot pink crop top dress with my (still pregnant) belly hanging out! Considering my baby is almost four months old now....this could be great motivation for me to put back that second cookie from the school cafeteria or refuse the birthday cupcake from little Jenny who just wanted to share one with her art teacher! I just love the brutal honesty and creative freedom of 5 and 6 yr olds. It was worth it for that adorable big gapped tooth smile she gave me when she proudly handed it to me. I think it will take alot of Faith, hope, and love to get me out of these maternity clothes and into a top like that though!

Rainbow Fish Lesson and Tricking Kids into Sharing!

Yesterday I read The Rainbow Fish to kindergarten and made these collage fish. Students used templates and cut them out. We drew the lines of the face and scales together with black crayons and markers. Then I gave them crayons and oil pastels to color and decorate. Then I passed out two tiny peices of sparkly paper and told them to share.

The book is about how the fish is the most beautiful but doesn't want to give his scales away and loses his friends. He finds it is better to share and have friends at the end.

I walked around the tables to see who was sharing the paper and who was being greedy!

I listened for kind words and waited to see who had the least scales.

Then I told them that I had been listening and told them the specific children who had shared and the kind words I heard them say. Those students got their own sparkly paper and they got to go around with some glitter paint giving dabs of glitter paint on each student's paper!

Watercolor Bluebonnets

Kinder and first have been learning about Texas, so naturally we painted bluebonnets. I wanted them to learn about making the colors go from dark to light (value) and used the watercolor paper for the bluebonnets. Some made a Texas flag for a background and these students made a sunset. We put peices of cardboard behind them to give them some 3D effect. We talked about foreground, background, horizon line, and value. Students that finished early, drew little bluebonnets in the background. The results were beautiful, and they were excited to take them home!

Koi Fish

This was a fun project I did with several different grade levels. They were all successful. Second through fifth all enjoyed it. We learned different concepts such as overlapping, value, and print making for the red stamp or “chop” to sign their artwork. We learned about Japanese art and wrote a symbol that means friendship since Koi fish are a symbol of friendship. Students explored a variety of different mediums such as watercolor, oil pastel, chalk pastel, and red ink for printing