Not Your Average Dad!

Dad + Art Teacher = Not The Normal Honey-Do List

I made 20 of these. 

Bet most dads don't have to do such things?!!?!?  

My daughter is turning 4 in a few weeks & LOVES TANGLED!!!!!  

So we'll be having a Garden/Tangled Birthday Party this year.  Last year was just a general Princess Party.

If you were following my blog then...you may remember the cake pictures!?!?!?!

If you want a good laugh..go to this link!! ha ha  

http://artwithmre.blogspot.com/2012/03/its-art.html

Brian Neher: DVD Series

I was contacted by a representative of Brian Neher asking if I'd be interested in previewing his video series.  I'm always excited to find new resources!!  The videos are wonderful, but not suited for elementary age children.  Not that any of the content is inappropriate, but the way it is presented is better suited for high school/young adult/adult audiences.  They are wonderful for beginners as well as seasoned artists.  

Here is the information provided by the representative...

"This video series focuses on teaching the individual principles of representational art (Drawing, Value, Color and Edges) and how to apply them directly to the medium of painting. In addition to these four videos, there is also another in the series (Painting Outdoor Light) which teaches and demonstrates how to use all four principles together while painting a head study in oil. You can view clips from each of the videos at http://www.BrianNeher.com/store.aspx  "  

Valentine's Day Hair Art

Do you have your Valentine hair on today?!?!?!?

This is one of my kindergarten students.  Her mom watches YouTube videos on how to do these amazing hair creations!  HOW ADORABLE!  

Happy Valentine's Day

Hey Everyone!!  I just wanted to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day(...or Single Awareness Day).  I'm not a big holiday type person...but have been blessed with amazing love in my life(and that is worth celebrating!!!).  Here are the reasons why I stopped wearing all black on Feb. 14th!!! ha ha  

NAEA Fort Worth: My Time Slot

I just realized my session is the exact same time as a Super Session. So I might be talking to myself...thank goodness I'm so interesting?!?!   ha ha ha  However, if any of you attending feel like skipping the Super Session(it is Lois Gibson "The Art Of Catching Criminals") ....here is the information for mine.  There is space for 130 people...hopefully can fill it up!

Session Title: Blogging & Other Shameless Self Promotion

Date:  Friday, 3/8/2013

Time: 11:00:00 AM - 11:50:00 AM

Location: Sundance 3/Omni/3rd Floor

Description: Explore how to promote your program and connect to the community around you: blogging and building relationships to let others in on the importance of art education.

Milk Jug Masks : 2nd Grade

The milk jug mask project is coming along nicely!  They are going to have one more class time beyond this to tighten up some of the details.  The kids are loving them...but I'm not sure about doing this project again next year.  We may not cut the jugs next year..and do totem poles!  

Painting With Da-da!

This weekend my kids and I spent a lot of time together...just the three of us(my wife works part time at our church...and had several activities she had to attend).  So we broke out the paints and had a great time!   I stripped both of them down...knowing that the likelihood of getting messy was great! ha ha  Margaret did AMAZING!  She only got a little bit of paint on her.  She loves painting...and could paint all day/every day!!  Eli really did surprisingly well.  He was a hot mess when we were finished...and taken straight to the tub, but he had so much fun!!!  He painted for about 45 min...and probably could have gone longer(but the mess was too great for dada!!)  

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LOOK AT THE JOY ON HIS FACE!!!  

Checkin' out "sissy" 's art!

Peacock-A-Palooza Part 6: Salt Dough

The body of the peacock is created out of salt dough. We baked it the toaster oven for about 10 min.  The base is plaster with pipe cleaners (about 1/8th of a pipe cleaner for each leg).  After baking they poked two holes in the bottom of the body with a pipe cleaner..then placed it on the base.  They painted the body & base with liquid watercolor(suggest a clear coat before putting feathers and such on).  Then they added feathers, gems, and eyes.  I was worried at first...the salt dough was very soft, we had to let them set up for awhile before placing them in the toaster oven.  They ended up turning out great though.  Salt dough is an alternative if you do not have a kiln...or the budget for clay.  

I know the pictures are a little blurry....I was rushed as everyone was packing up to leave.

Peacock-A-Palooza Part 5: Shrinking Pictures

Did you have Shrinky Dinks as a child?!?!  I did!!  This project has some interesting potential!  We did not use Shrinky Dink brand material.  The product we used was Grafix Shrink Film.  Same idea for the most part.  After doing a Sharpie line drawing...the image was filled in with colored chalk dipped in water.  If you don't have a classroom toaster oven...they are a good investment(polymer clay, salt dough, melting crayons..etc).  The application of this product could be a jewelry lesson.  If you cut the product to the right size...it could shrink down to necklace size.  Use a hole punch before putting it into the oven...and you have the hole for the string once it is done.  Image an Egyptian unit...and they could do a hieroglyph necklace!!  

Peacock-A-Palooza Part 4: Mixed Media on Canvas

This is a mixed media on canvas(though...if you can't afford to purchase canvas...cardboard would work).  There are so many directions you can go with such a project!  For a quicker turn around time...we gave the teachers tissue paper to cover their backgrounds.  Paint is also an option, but will take a little time to dry.  They also had full access to boxes of fun fabric.  They were encouraged to be thinking of words that describe themselves to add.  They could use Sharpie, magazines, fabric....whatever....to create the words.  LOVE THE PERSONALITY SHINING THROUGH!