Food trucks have become really popular lately, so most of my students were familiar with them. They loved coming up with their own food truck ideas, some were really unique. We started out this project by reading Food Truck Fest. Then we took some time to brain storm ideas. What kind of food would our […]
All my students from preschool to high school have been working on this project for the last couple of weeks. I am so pleased with how they turned out. The younger students drew a blue truck by directed drawing and used construction paper crayons to add color. The older students drew a Model T from […]
This is one of those projects that look simple but are filled with learning opportunities. Atmospheric perspective is creating the illusion of depth in a painting by simulating the effect atmosphere has on the color and detail of objects. Students began by mixing tints and shades of green to paint tall redwood trees. We began […]
Chalk pastels are notoriously messy but so worth it. For the past couple of weeks, we have been working on adobe houses with mountains using chalk pastels on dark blue paper. Since we have been buried in snow for several weeks now, setting these in a wintery setting seemed appropriate. I think some students decided […]
Ted Harrison was a Canadian artist who painted beautiful, simplified landscapes of the Yukon. I taught a Ted Harrison lesson several years ago, but I was inspired by Britt Curley to try a slightly different approach. The first time around, I used tempera paint and worked on 12X18 paper. Final lines were done with oil […]
At least once a year, I try do do a mixed media collage. I think there is a lot of value in having students see how they can combine several small projects into one final piece. This project took three weeks to complete, but I think it was well worth it. There is a whole […]
For our first project of the school year, we drew and painted urban neighborhoods. We drew our neighborhoods with Sharpie markers, beginning with the objects closest to the viewer and working back to the buildings farthest away. Students were encouraged to make each building unique and to add lots of details. I taught this project […]
Paul Gauguin was a French, post-Impressionist painter. He spent many years painting in Tahiti. His landscapes done during this time were our inspiration for this project. We looked at several of Gauguin’s landscapes and discussed how to create the illusion of space. After drawing the landscape with oil pastel, we used acrylic paint to add […]
I taught this project to a group of adults in December. That project really turned out great, so I decided to teach it to my K-6 classes. I can’t believe how well they did! Even my very youngest students (several 5 yr olds) did an amazing job. This project included so much: watercolor techniques (wet […]
Last week we read The Magical Garden of Claude Monet by Laurence Anholt. While on a visit to Giverny, the main character, Julie, befriends Claude Monet and explores his beautiful gardens. We began our project by drawing the Japanese bridge made famous by Monet’s paintings. We used oil pastels to draw the bridge and create […]
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