Art and Nature

We are finally getting some nice weather here in Ireland and it is starting to feel like summer. That said it is cloudy and cold here today but I've heard that there will be a heatwave next week! 

Here are some ideas for bringing your art class outdoors.

Enjoy

Found object collage

Use leaves, petals, stones, or shells to create hair dos. Get the kids to draw the faces and you get two lessons ;)

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/750x/df/61/01/df6101c656998eddb8cce5c264dbdc73.jpg

Pictures with natural objects 

Use whatever you find to create pictures of animals, people, whatever you can think of! 

http://www.catholicsistas.com/2014/05/09/weather-turns-nice-gut-check-time-catholic-homeschool/

Keith Harring style stick people 

Use a stick to form part of the body of your stick person. Finish the body with a black marker. Paint around the stick person in a bright colour. 

http://patrick.straub.free.fr/site_art_pla2/2012_mouvements.htm

Wind chime

Use a stick to hang strings of beads or shells. Decorate with paint, ribbons or wool. 

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/750x/8d/d6/49/8dd64905f4b0f8867b6f82a5afc02327.jpg

Outdoor weaving 

This is a lovely idea for those with a school garden. Set up a weaving station where children can weave leaves, reeds, and flowers. Beautiful :) 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/panforte/3920371676/in/photostream/

I hope some of these inspire you to bring your class outside for your next art lesson. 

Valentine's Day Art Ideas

It doesn't rain, it pours! Well that is certainly the case here. The sun is trying to break through between the heavy downpours but that means I can watch the rugby and blog snuggled up on the sofa :) 

I bought a Valentine's card for my little boy today and it got me thinking about cards to make in school. So this post will cover cards, junior art and senior art. 

Here goes!

1. Valentine Cards

Love you to pieces 

http://pin.it/Is6A3h-

Wax Resist Valentine's Card 

http://pin.it/WctxXav

Maaa! Or Maaaaam! 

I remember my Mammy telling us not to shout Maaaaaaam at her when we were young. I think I'll have to make her a card like this for Valentine's Day :) 

http://pin.it/V76NV6a

Threaded Hearts

http://pin.it/q7mNFli

2. Junior Art

I give you my heart <3

http://kinderart.com/seasons/giveyoumyheart.shtml

Fingerprint Heart

http://www.redtedart.com/2016/01/03/fingerprint-keepsake-for-toddlers/

Textured Hearts

http://artprojectsforkids.org/jim-dine-textured-heart/

Mondrian Hearts

https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/artventurous-5792519/mondrian-hearts-4165117935

3. Senior Art

XOXO

http://www.artbarblog.com/create/diy-painting-xoxo/

Zetangle with Hearts

https://www.flickr.com/photos/makeartbehappy/5793726582/in/photostream

Slab pot

https://meyzeekart.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/clay8.jpg?w=655

Heart Printing

http://www.howweelearn.com/print-making-kids/

Paper Cubes with Hearts

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/750x/1c/ef/40/1cef40d3884db94bd3bef3c11cbd5d78.jpg

4. Looking and Responding 

Here's is a quick round up of some artists and their art that deals with the theme of love. 

Norman Rockwell 

Gustav Klimt - The Kiss

You probably have a copy of this in your school. I know I have one from Ikea. Although hugely reproduced there is something about this painting that captivates me. It is nice to paint with metallic paints for a change too.

Jim Dine - Sculpture & Paintings

As you can see hearts are the subject of Jim Dine's work. Perfect for this time of year!

Picasso - Paintings from the Rose Period

Following his blue period Picasso began to paint clowns, harlequins and carnival performers using warm colours. This change in palette creates a cheerful atmosphere, a change from the despair and loneliness depicted during the blue period. 

Have children paint a picture using tint and shades of red. A perfect project for Valentine's Day. 

Taj Mahal

A beautiful monument and a wonder of the world. The love story of why the Taj Mahal was built is worth sharing with your class. 

If you teach younger classes they might enjoy 'skinamarinky dinky dink dink'  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7vPzg7VLUsY

I hope I've given you some art inspiration. Wishing you all a happy Valentine's Day :)

Whatever the Weather - 5th & 6th

I was asked for ideas for 5th & 6th on the theme of weather. Some of the weather ideas I posted last week could be used with more senior classes but here are a few more suitable for 5th & 6th.

1. Looking & Responding 

Don't forget that you can include this in a lesson or have a stand alone lesson on it. A search in Google images will bring up a plethora of famous artworks on your topic. 

The topic here is weather and here are the paintings I found. 

The Liffey Swim by Jack B. Yeats. (Top)

Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son, by Claude Monet. (Bottom Left)

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. (Bottom, Middle)

The Umbrellas (French: Les Parapluies) by Pierre- Auguste Renoir. (Bottom Right)

Responding can simply be a discussion about the painting, it can be a written piece such as a poem, or it can be creating a piece inspired by the artwork. 

This is a wax resist that appears to be inspired by ' The Umbrellas' by Renoir. 

2. Diorama 

I love dioramas! I used make these as a child with my Aunt. I used to make a hole in each side of the box and put a straw through. Then cut out people or animals and stick them to the straw to create a miniature theatre. Dioramas work for nearly any topic and allow for lots of creativity.  

They are a nice project to work on over a number of weeks and can be linked with other subject areas. 

How about creating a diorama to show the water cycle? 

3. Mixed media

A mixed media city scape in greys and blacks with some coloured rain. Newspaper, painted paper, magazines, coloured paper and card is used to create the buildings in shades of grey. 

The cloud is made by painting card with a thick layer of grey paint. A fork was used to make wavy lines to create texture. A sheet of white paper was laid on top to create a print. Once dry a cloud shape was cut out.  

4. One Point Perspective 

Deep Space Sparkle has a great lesson on one point perspective. This is suited to 5th or 6th class. Children can be given a selection of weather situations to be depicted in their picture. 

www.deepspacesparkle.com

5. Expand an image

Print out images from the web, use photographs or cut images from magazines which show a variety of weather types. Each child chooses one image and glues it to a white page. They then expand the images using paint, oil pastels, colouring pencils, etc. 

www.artprojectsforkids.org

6. Illustrate a poem

Illustrate a poem or a passage based on your chosen theme. I think this magazine collage on a cereal box perfectly represents a sunny day. 

7. Turkish Sun Catcher

From Prim Ed's Awesome Art & Craft (Book 3). This resource book has lots of nice ideas suitable for older classes. 

These sun catchers are made from plastic bottles. Coloured tissue is glued inside and designs are drawn on the outside in black permanent marker. 

A few more ideas that could work with your topic of weather are,

- Lighthouse Construction (make circuit for science integration)

- Brid house /feeder ( science/ geography)

- weather vane (science/geography)

I hope I have given you some inspiration😊 

Easter Rising 1916

I was asked for some art ideas in relation to the Easter Rising. I'm working on a few more ideas but I thought I'd share these with you. 

Brush drawings

The link is to a video of Barroux painting scenes from his graphic novel 'Line of Fire'. It is a brush drawing using Indian ink and a round tipped brush. The result is quiet stark and reflects the bleakness of the time. 

https://vimeo.com/75281034

If you are reading a novel on the Easter Rising it would be a nice idea to illustrate key scenes from it or maybe have your class write and illustrate diary entries.

The Ducks of St. Stephen's Green

Have you heard the story of how every day fighting ceased to allow the grounds keeper feed his ducks? I think this is a heartwarming tale and nice to share with younger classes. Tell them the story and paint or draw some ducks afterwards. 

Cardboard box street

Using cardboard boxes create Sackville street, now O'Connell street, where stands the GPO on the steps of which  the proclamation was read. 

Or make some of the key buildings using cardboard boxes. 

Illustrated map

A nice link to geography aswell as history, draw a general map of an area of Dublin City and illustrate events that took place. The reading of the proclamation, ducks in St. Stephen's Green, messenger boys on bicycles, etc 

Divide a map into sections, each group works on an area and then piece it back together.

Design a commemorative stamp

It is nice to explore printing when looking at stamps. 

Children can glue cardboard pieces to a square of card to create a collograph print. Another option is a monoprint, use an acetate or laminating pouche, cover evenly in ink/paint and draw your design use a cotton bud. 

There are lots of other ways to create a print so give them a try. 

I hope to have some more ideas for you soon. :)

Origami Sugar Skulls

            Origami Sugar Skulls

In Mexico during Dia de los Muertos sugar skulls are made as an offering to their dead loved ones.

Sugar skulls are decorated to look bright and colourful. To capture the personality and spirit of the deceased loved ones. Isn't that a lovely sentiment 😊

They decorations also give us an insight into the personality and likes of the person.

Follow the instructions to create an origami skull and decorate in the style of a sugar skull.

Enjoy 😊

Pom Pom Spiders & Colourful Webs 👾

I retweeted a picture of colourful webs adorned with Pom Pom spiders earlier this week. I have been asked how to make them so I've put together a short post on how I would do it. This is not my idea and so this is my interpretation of what I think is a great art lesson. 

As it is Maths week it would be nice to talk about fractions, angles, lines, or length if using this lesson. Integration all the way!! 😉

Spider Web

1. Rule an A4 page in half horizontally and vertically (page is now in quarters).

2. Draw two diagonal lines, one joining top left corner to bottom right, and the other from top right to bottom left.

3. Your page is now in 8 section. In each section draw lines to complete the web. 

4. Using crayons, pencils or markers colour in the web. As it is Maths week you can talk about patterns, children could use a different pattern for each section, or do one section in cool colours and the next in warm colours.

Pom Pom Spider

1. Using black wool, wrap it loosely around two fingers. The more times you wrap it around your fingers the bigger your spider will be.

2.Tie a length of wool securely around the middle, making a figure 8. 

3. Take a scissors and cut the wool to release both loops.

4. Fluff out to make your spider and add eyes!

Here's are some pictures which should explain better than I just have!

Early Childhood Art - Collage and Construction - Review

Prim Ed very nicely  sent me their art resource books at the start of the summer. I was caught up with moving house (Nice start to the holidays!) and am only getting to post my first review now.

When my box of books arrived I had a quick glance at them all. This one jumped out at me as the pages are full of coloured photos of the children creating their art.

I will review each book under the same headings, just to be fair ;)

Layout

Contents

Dust Rating

Early Childhood Art – Collage and Construction

Amelia Ruscoe

Layout

This book has rich colours, an abundance of photographs, and is easy to follow. Each activity is explained over two pages. The information is organised under headings such as, Resources, Key Questions, and Preparation.

The last page of the book is an art storeroom stock list. This is great to have when organising your supplies, or have it copied and stuck inside your art press with the items you have highlighted.

Contents

There are 53 art activities in the book, split into 4 sections, Collage, Construction, Textiles, and Modelling. I think this book would be a great resource for anyone teaching infants, first or second class. 

Often when you get a book of art projects I find I only use one or two ideas in class. I want to try out all of these!  My favourites include String collage,  paper rollercoaster and glue drop collage.

I particularly like the photos of the children working as well as the finished artwork. The foucus in on the process, using different materials, and appreciating the outcomes.

Dust Rating

I couldn’t decide what to call this category....! Basically I am asking myself would I use this book or will it sit on the shelf gathering dust?

So one being thick with dust and five being dust free, I will award this book 5/5! 

Easy to dip into, lots of easy ideas and covers a great range of skills.

I think it would be a great addition to any teacher’s library.