Here Comes the Sun... 2nd graders & Laurel Burch

My 2nd graders looked at the "Celestial Dreams" designs of the fabulous Laurel Burch.
Here are a couple of samples of her artwork that I shared:

The kids said my window-shade (pic below) reminded them of Laurel Burch's suns. Thanks, kids!

The kids drew on 18" square paper, each incorporating some sort of frame into their design. Some drew suns and moons in a split design; others did just suns. They painted solid areas of color with bright pre-mixed tempera colors, mimicking the colors of Laurel Burch. Then they used oil pastels to add pattern, outline, and extra details. I'm so proud of their exuberant work!



Here's a couple of bulletin boards full of them. So cheerful!

Second graders grow mustaches!!

It's Salvador Dali and his mustache!!

I'd love to take credit for this goofy & adorable idea, but I can't. I first saw this lesson posted by Anne at Use Your Coloured Pencils back in the fall. Her 5th and 6th grade students had created portraits of Dali and his famous mustache, but I did my version with my 2nd grade students.

We used a black oil pastel (with no pre-drawing with pencil). When done, the students cut the portraits out, glued them on a construction paper color of their choice, and made a mustache with a black pipe cleaner. I hot-glued the mustaches on when the students were ready. Last week, the second graders had practiced creating a variety of facial expressions using an oil pastel and the 'biggie' paints, so they were ready to draw Dali's expressive face!

But to 'get in the mood' we began by growing our own mustaches! I gave each student a 3"x 9" piece of black tag-board, and they quickly cut out crazy mustaches and taped them on, keeping them on while they worked. They were a real hit! Some of the students used their scraps to create funky eyebrows as well. Even the teaching assistant who comes to art with his 1:1 student made a twirly mustache to wear over his real (and much shorter) real mustache in art!

These mustaches below are samples of those that have been 'grown' by my second graders. Sorry the first batch is sideways. (Oh well; tilt your head or your computer. Thank you, blogger!)

Yes, it's me below (having a bad hair day but a good mustache day!) with two real characters.
By the way, since many of my readers have been 'pinning' stuff from my blog to their Pinterest boards, I'd prefer that you choose to pin just the artwork or the hideous photo of me, and not the photos of my sweet students. I realize I don't actually have the power to prevent you from pinning them, but I thought I'd at least make the request and hope you will respect my wishes. Thanks.

One of the second grade classes shows off their newly grown mustaches! Note that many of them are trying to bug out their eyes, Dali-style!

It was a LOT to get done in a 40 minute art class, and honestly both my 2nd grade classes ran overtime but we all got done. THANK YOU THANK YOU to my wonderful awesome spectacular fabulous 2nd grade teachers for their willingness to wait for their kiddos and to help with lining the kids up quickly for a photo. And another thanks to the very patient 4th grade teacher and her students who were waiting patiently for their art class time while we cleaned up the mustache trimmings all over the floor! I know elementary classroom teachers' prep time is precious, so I appreciate that this lovely teacher was cheerful and non-complaining.

And the minute the artwork went up in the hallway, people (kids AND adults) were smiling when they walked by! FUN, FUN!

Peacocks with shimmer and bling - grade 2

I recently blogged here about Alex Beard's "Monkey see, Monkey Draw" book and the associated art game.In this game, my 2nd graders traced their hands and turned them into something, but NOT a turkey. Students had some interesting results, including several peacocks. Meanwhile, I had been bookmarking some lovely peacock projects that I'd seen on other blogs. So I thought it was time that we actually make our own peacocks. Here's what we did.

While the lessons I had bookmarked had produced lovely results, I decided to do things my own way, with decidedly varied results. We began by watching a video of peacocks fanning their beautiful displays, and we examined some authentic peacock feathers. We looked carefully at the shape of the bird's body and their unique features.

The kids drew their peacocks with pencils, outlined the birds and the 'eyes' on the feathers with Sharpies, and then began to paint. We used some liquid watercolors in blue, turquoise, and sparkly 'black' (more of a dark green, really) and some Prang metallic temperas I had leftover from a Klimt project a couple of years ago.

We completed the peacocks with white oil pastels for the stems of the feathers and the stripe above and below the eye, other color oil pastels for the feather lines and anywhere else appropriate, and finally sequins for 'bling'. By the way, don't you love the pigeon-toed peacock on the left below?

Some peacocks were quite successful, and others, well, I'll show you some of them too.

Below are two unique peacocks. The painting on the left was unique in the choice of a limited color palette. Good job! The painting on the right was, well, exuberant to say the least. I love the shape of the bird body.

And then there's a peacock that looks like it got caught in a windstorm, and another with colorful pine tree branches instead of feathers.

And did this peacock on the left below get his feathers stuck in a revolving door? I guess he doesn't want to be recognized, since it looks like he's wearing dark glasses.

I think the peacock on the left below is having a 'bad feather day' perhaps, and the one on the right is attempting (successfully, I guess) peacock camouflage. Where's the peacock?

Blogger insists on rotating the images below, but I had to share them anyhow. We've got, first, the Jackson Pollock action painting version, or maybe a 2nd grade attempt at abstract expressionism, then a bird with, instead of eyes on his feathers, I think they are calamari rings, and finally a beautiful bird with feathers that have been scared straight.

By the way, below is the metallic paint. It came in a set of several colors, metallic green, blue, violet, red, copper, silver, gold, and a steel blue color. They look gorgeous in the bottle but are very disappointing paints. They have a gelatinous consistency and do not have much coverage. You need to layer them to get any real vibrancy, and therefore require more patience than that of an average 2nd grader. But the kids are happy with their peacocks, so I am too.
 

More sweet desserts!

This is the last of the Wayne Thiebaud projects. Third graders drew the dessert of their choice with oil pastels, and painted over with watercolors. Simple and quick.


And here's a while batch of them hanging up.