Welcome FALL! What can you create by using simple things like Carboard and Sponges? Look and See!

By using simple materials such as pre-cut pieces of a cardboard box and pre-cut sponges, these fall Birch trees were created!

Emily has some leaves falling from her tree.

Chloe added a little bird and some branches.

Our supply list was: 9x12 watercolor paper,

pre-cut cardboard, Pre-cut sponges, black, yellow, red, orange acrylic paint, chalk pastels in cool colors. No paint brushes were used in this lesson!

Many techniques were taught in this lesson, along with key terms such as, Blending, Warm and Cool Colors and Texture.

WHOOOO Likes Air Dry Clay?!! I Do! I Do!

Another success with this wonderful air dry clay from Texas Pottery Co. Here are some of our finished Owls. 

Owl buddies by Zoe and Rachel!

We painted them with Pearlescent watercolor paints by Ninja AFTER we painted them with BLACK Acrylic paint (see below).

Painting the owls completely BLACK was really hard to do. But I promised the kids that they would LOVE the finished product.

It all started with a simple SLAB of AIR DRY CLAY! In this lesson, I wanted to focus on constructing the owl by using slabs and by adding various types of TEXTURE. We also focused on "Slipping & Scoring" the clay in order for it to stay together.

Giraffes Done By Kinders!

Giraffes are amazing animals that reside in Africa!

We start out by learning all about this wonderful creature. Did you know that in the wild, a giraffe's lifespan can be up to 26 years?!

              Giraffes have very LONG tongues
(up to 18 inches) that help them to eat.

     Sometimes I have just a couple of students that I work with and in this case, I sit between them and we draw together. These were all done by 4 year olds! We had fun drawing one of my favorite animals.

My New Clay Class has Started!

Here are some of our creations. These are made from this amazing AIR DRY clay that was purchased at Texas Pottery Supply and Clay Co. This stuff is awesome!

We started with a ball of newspaper....

Then we began creating.....This clay is so workable.

                         We continued to use the newspaper for supporting the tail       and the head of the Dragon.

Above, Zoe designed this bowl from coils, then created a braided coil for the lip of her piece. She titled her piece "Twist" I love it!

These are our final pieces. We will let them completely dry, then we will paint them with acrylic paint. This air dry clay takes the paint well AND does NOT break and crumble apart like some air dry clay.

Oceans Alive!

Exploring the beauty of the oceans today.

Using chalk pastels for the first time....

Blending, shading, highlights....

Making sure that we have plenty of visuals!

God Bless America!

Today we learned about our wonderful symbol...the Bald Eagle! Before we actually begin drawing and creating, we always learn about our subject matter.

Going step by step is a great way to show students how to really look at lines and shapes.

One of our finished creations! This was created by a little 6 year old! Just amazing!

NATURE! Nature is a wonderful subject for artists!

Setting up for teaching about the White Rhino.

This is Yen's artwork....she is 5 and soooo creative!

Another rhino...age 6. I love the detail in the background

Working with chalk pastels...