Kindergarten Fish Paintings

 I love kindergarten so much!  They grow/learn so quickly. I start each year with a "fish" unit so that my students can master the subject while being introduced to new media each week.  The last project of the unit is a fish painting.  We used the Crayola Washable Watercolor sets.  Not usually my favorite watercolor, but they worked nicely for this project.  They did such an amazing job. (sorry the pictures of their work was kind of a mess...I was in a hurry when I took them!).  

Reverse Coloring Book

For my birthday, my wife bought me a Reverse Coloring Book.  They have been all over social media, and looked like a lot of fun.  THEY ARE!!!  So as we are approaching the end of the year, I am trying to keep my students engaged in meaningful art activities.  I thought that having them make pages for a reverse coloring book would be a great way to review some painting techniques. I also thought we could make little booklets for all the students in the school.  I'm doing this with 4th & 5th grade this week, but may need to do it with third next week so I have enough pages to make the booklet.  My 4th and 5th graders are extremely excited about this project.  They were asking me when we are going to give them out, how many pages would each booklet have....they are all in!  I'll show you the final project in a couple weeks when we hand them out! 

 

Something New!

A friend of mine gave me a gift certificate for BLICK Art Supplies!  I've never ordered anything for myself from BLICK...just student grade art supplies for school.  Have you ever noticed how hard it is to narrow down what you want when are given a gift card/certificate?  I wanted to get the biggest bang for my buck.  I rarely ever spend big money on my personal art making.  I'm a teacher, husband, and father of three....I pinch pennies!!!  ha ha  I ended up getting this BEAUTIFUL watercolor set from Van Gogh. They are the botanical colors (I love to do nature paintings.)  I've not used them yet because I'm still trying to decide what layout makes sense for how I use my paint.  I'll be sure to share once I start painting.  If any of you have used Van Gogh, and have any ideas or tips to share...please leave them in the comments. 

 

More Amazing Kindergarten Paintings....

I had to share more of the kindergarten paintings!  I'm so impressed with their work.  It is always so amazing when the class goes silent, and the kids are so focused on their work that they are unaware of anything around them! THEY WERE IN THE ZONE!!!!!!  Check out this batch of beautiful paintings.

Kindergarten Water Color Still Life

 So the title of this post should be longer, but I felt it was getting a bit ridiculous. Kindergarten Wax Resist Water Color Cubist Still Life. See what I mean! ha ha  These are going to be in the running for our Abstract All School Art Show this year!  (they get to pick from several projects)  

Let me just say...these kiddos blow me away!  

CHECK THEM OUT!

Artist Self Care

 Self-care looks different for everybody. Sometimes I forget that this simple act of painting helps heal/clear my artist soul. We get so busy. We think we don't have time for a grandiose work. We don't have time to invest in a piece that will change minds, ignite fires within, or challenge social issues. You know what. We don't have to do that all the time. "Good Art" meets the needs of the artist before it can ever touch the heart of the viewers. If it is just a sketch, a small painting, a clay pot...whatever you do....do it! If it leads to something FABULOUS...awesome. If it meets you where you are at....that is most important!

School has been a challenge this year(past couple years), and I needed some "therapy". Made these little cards last night...and it felt good!!

What does self care look like for you?

Kindergartners Watercolor Painting for the 1st Time!

You could have heard a pin drop! 

 These kiddos were AMAZING!!

My kindergarten students have worked with watercolor pencils & used wet brushes on washable marker marks, but this was the first time we used pan watercolors.  They did incredibly well! Not just no spills, but really applying the tips, tricks, and techniques! 

Water Color / Water Color Pencil Landscapes: 4th Grade

My forth graders created unreal color landscapes in watercolor last week.  This week we are using watercolor pencils to add details, and finish up any "unfinished" areas.  They have loved getting to use supplies that just weren't able to use while we were virtual!  

Faber Castell Watercolor Gel Sticks

This product is so interesting!! Have you all tried it before? It is similar to watercolor crayons, but has its own characteristics. Check out my product review & let me know what you think of it! 

Faber-Castell Watercolor Gel Sticks

  

 

Art Supply Review: Dollar Tree’s Crafter’s Square Watercolor Set

Testing another product....SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO!! 

Product Review: Art Skills Watercolor

I love watching product reviews on YouTube! I thought it would be fun to make some for channel geared more for art teachers, but kids, families, and other creative individuals might enjoy watching it as well! Many of the products I’ve already purchased are from Dollar General.

Two Georgia O'Keeffe Lessons

This week I'm using Georgia O'Keeffe as the inspiration for 3rd & 4th grade, but the projects they are doing are not the same. I love to use artists as jumping off points without doing a direct copy of the inspiration artist/art work. 

3rd grade is creating flower "ish" op art drawings using Sharpie. Next step will be to use watercolor pencils(three colors) to create a gradation of color.

4th grade are creating a mixed media piece that may look more traditionally O'Keeffe, but it is a bit more abstracted & less flower like.  I wanted my students to have an opportunity to work with oil pastels & color blending.  They did a watercolor wash over top of the picture when they were complete.

Rizzi Cities: 2nd Grade

My second graders are currently working on a cityscape unit!  After creating a cityscape under attack by monsers/aliens/robots....they have now moved on to the fun/whimsical Rizzi Cities!!!  They are LOVING IT!!!  I may be doing several posts of the results.  This is Day 1(on a four day rotation). We learned about Rizzi & looked at his work....drew our pictures...and traced with Sharpie on the first day.  Today we painted our pictures using watercolor(Prang).

Fish Paintings: Kindergarten

Oh how Kindergarten loves to paint!!  We did a very controlled collaborative painting the first week of school...but this is the first time they've gone at it in a full fledged lesson! We are about 5 or 6 weeks into the school year now....so they've learned a great deal.  They also are very confident with our fish/sea theme we've been working on this 9 weeks.  After a demo & explanation of painting expectations & procedures...they students got to work! 

THE RESULTS...BEAUTIFUL!!!!

I use the wide bottom tumbler cups from Dollar Tree/Dollar General(have had them for years and years).  I only fill them about 3 or 4 inches full of water(in case of spills.

We use the "Biggie" watercolor sets with 4 colors.  Tempera cakes would work also. It is more getting them use to holding a brush, rinsing out the brush, ...etc. 

I do not do step by step exactly...I do a demo and then let them do it.  I don't want all the pictures to look exactly the same...but I do believe in guidance for my kinders!!!

This girls fish is super fun..and very different from the others.

 LOVE IT!

It is amazing how so precise some of the kids are at such a young age!

Sharing is caring!! Also...I know...I need to get new paints!!(get the refills!!..cuts down on cost)

IF YOU ALL HAVE ANY FEARS OR QUESTIONS ABOUT PAINTING WITH KINDERGARTEN...PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT OR CONTACT ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA!!

Monochromatic Self Portraits: 4th Grade

Trying to jazz up portraits with my 4th grade...I introduced them to the idea of monochromatic painting.  There is a couple reasons for this.  1) It is a good skill to introduce.  2) The last art teacher ordered several hundred red watercolor refills accidentally. (I have been here for 18 yrs and still have a couple hundred!! ha ha!!)  I can't say I'm super excited how this project turned out, but it was a challenge worth attempting for my students!  Here are some of the gems I found!!