Fun Foam Mosaic

This was a really fun project, but it did take quite a long time to complete.

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I had the students cover the front side of a copied black line coloring page with white chalk pastel. We then flipped the paper over on to the black construction paper and secured with blue painters tape. The black lines were visible through the regular copy paper so the students just traced the lines 

with a pencil creating a white chalk line transfer.

The fun foam was precut into small squares beforehand, but if the space required a smaller space, they had to cut those pieces themselves. Triangle shapes worked most of the time.

They were encouraged to use more than one color tone in areas like the leaves

to create a little interest and depth.

I had the students work from the inside of the picture outward by filling the space with  regular white Elmer's school glue and carefully place the foam tesserae in the space. Toothpicks were used to move the pieces to the exact space and students did need to be reminded to leave space in between the tesserae to allow the black "grout" to show through. 

I also told them that the piece would be more interesting if they did not cover the entire page with tesserae but left areas foam free.The branch area was also left foam free and created a nice contrast for the yellow claws.

The Versatile Blogger Award- FInally!

I was so honored to receive this award from not just one, but two amazing bloggers;
Art at Chesterbrook Academy  
and
Outside the Lines Young Artists' Studios 

Being recognized by individuals whose work I admire and respect so much is truly edifying!

Of course this award does come with a few responsibilities. The first of which is to  publicly thank and link back to those who deemed you worthy of receiving it. Next up, tell seven random facts about yourself. Lastly, award 10 more recently discovered bloggers or old favorites with the same honors and high praise and make sure to let them know about it.


Since I have already completed requirement number one, let's move right on into number 2 shall we?

SEVEN RANDOM THINGS ABOUT MISS JULIE


1. I ask my students to call me Miss Julie because if they call me Mrs. Moses I start looking around for my mother-in-law.
2. I collect quotes. I made myself a little journal of them.
3. I am a Joan Crawford like clean freak-though you could not tell that by looking at my house. Or my car.
4.  Each of my children believed that their belly button was called their "beep-beep" until they were about three years old because every time we sang "The Wheels on the Bus", when we got to the horn portion of the song, their tummy served as the sound maker.
5. I have learned more from teaching art to kids than I ever did in any of my high school or college art classes.
6. I am endlessly fascinated with neurology and current research on what is called neuroplasticity.
7. I generally ruin all crime dramas or suspense thrillers for my husband by figuring out the plot line pattern 15 to 20 minutes into the episode or movie. As such, my oldest daughter has vowed to create a patternless plot line someday in order to stump me.

Enough about me. Now on to the good stuff!

TEN WONDERFULLY INSPIRING BLOGS YOU SHOULD BE READING



 Dilly Dally Art
Casa Maria's Creative Learning Zone
Art With Mr. E
A Faithful Attempt
Art Project Girl
Painted Paper
Art Rats
Teach Kids Art
SmART Class

So now it is their turn to honor some more of the truly deserving blogs out there!

Not just for the bathtub...

Well, I said Monday, but being it is only Monday for another hour, I am going to leave my award post for Tuesday. In the meantime, I will leave you with this...

Recently I purchased bathtub crayons for my 15 month old. Technically they are for 3 and over, but my little one doesn't put them in her mouth-much. They were an absolute hit. I know this because of the deafening screams she produced when I took them from her at the end of bath time.

Since she loves them so much, I tried to extend the play opportunity beyond bathtime. We have since found them very useful in the high chair. It wipes right off! The high chair also keeps her contained, so they don't end up on my walls. Of course there was that one time the high chair was very close to the wall-too tempting for my future muralist. Good news- it wiped right off!

I took the adventure further and invited her to use them on the mirrored closet doors and the clear glass shower door. We haven't tried the glass patio door yet, but we have to save something for tomorrow.

So what inventive ways can you think of to use bathtub crayons?

Op Art Eggs

I've seen this project around quite a bit lately, so I just had to give it a try. Of course, I did give it an Art Fairy tweak or two.

Instead of using the traditional sphere shape, we used an egg in honor of Easter.

This was also done in two pieces. The eggs were done on a separate paper, cut out and then attached.

They were given a cardstock egg shape templates to draw the eggs.

To draw the grid on the eggs, I had the students draw a slightly curved line down the center of the egg creating two sections. they drew another curved line in in the center of each new section, creating four sections. I told them to think of the longitude lines they would see on a globe. We repeated this process for the horizontal or latitudinal lines. 

The eggs were then colored with watercolor pencil, water was added using Q-tips, and lastly cut out. 

Because of time constraints, students were given a grid that was premade on the computer and printed onto cardstock. Again we used watercolor pencils for the grid.

We discussed a bit of color theory and looked at the color wheel. We talked about complimentary colors and how primary colors are mixed to create secondary colors. We also discussed how they complimentary colors are always composed of one warm and one cool color.

Students were instructed to choose one warm and one cool color to complete the grid patterns and hopefully create 

a bit of "chromatic tension". 

The eggs were then attached using rolled up pieces of tape.

Gluing would probably be better, but tape allowed us to move ahead without waiting for it to dry. The eggs were lightly shaded at the edges with vine charcoal. White highlight was added to the center of the eggs with chalk pastel.

Before we started our project we watched this little video on You Tube about the history of Optical Art. It is actually about Pop and Op Art but is nicely split in two sections right in the middle around the 5 minute mark. Several of the pop art images were more than I was willing to explain to my elementary level students so we skipped ahead and stopped early on the video. We also watched this 

video slide show of Op Art by Victor Vasarely. 

Next time I try this project, I'd like to try adding a basket as well and see how that turns out. Can you think of any other ways to modify this project to fit what you're currently working on? I'd love to hear your ideas...

Stay tuned Monday for a special Versatile Blogger Awards Post!

Faux Stained Glass

First I found a stained glass coloring page- a very simple oval one. Then we cut up each section of the oval into five or six smaller irregular pieces. This first "stained glass" piece was accomplished by using Prismacolor markers on regular copy paper. The ink bled through heavily. So what we are seeing is actually the back side of the paper. There are little bits of white that resemble some of the frosting you see on traditional stained glass. After that was attached to black paper with glue and allowed to dry. The "leading" was traced over with black glue. Black glue is regular white school glue with just a little black acrylic paint mixed in. It dries with a raised surface. This one turned out very pretty.

This is another simple coloring page sans the extra sections but with a dove added. This is crayon on wax paper. Again the leading is black glue and the frame is two pieces of black construction paper with the oval center cut out. This one would make a really nice sun catcher displayed on a window.

Easter Rainbows

Materials
7 sheets of paper, red, orange, green, blue, purple, white
paper plate
pencil
paper trimmer and or scissors
stapler
clip(optional)

1.Start with 7 sheets of paper stacked in this color order, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and white. Use a paper trimmer or scissors to cut the papers in half lengthwise.

2.Use a large circle to draw a curve at the short edge one of the papers. Cut this curve and use it as a template to trace the same curve on the remaining papers. Turn over and trace on the other side of the papers. You want a mirrored curve here so that later when the pages are folded in the curves will match up.

3. On the white paper, after the curve is traced, add a wavy line on both sides.

4. Cut all the curves.

5. Stagger the papers so that each shows evenly. Fold the bottom up to meet the white and create two rows of cloud. Crease the fold. Clip to hold in place.

6. Reopen and staple on the crease. It is best to staple from the outside in so that staple points aren't sticking out to poke little fingers.

7. Close book up and place under heavier books to get to lay flat.

In honor of National Poetry Month, this is my Easter rainbow poem. You could write this out in the rainbow book you just made! I am planning on making these with my Sunday school class of kindergartners and four year olds this Easter. I will print out each verse on labels or sticker paper and have them stick on the appropriate verse for each color.
If anyone would like the corresponding bible verses, let me know and I will post them.

A Rainbow for Jesus
By Julie Moses

Red is for the blood
Jesus shed on the cross
Orange is the color of spices
Used to prepare his death cloths
Yellow is the color of the hem
Of an angel's robe,
who From the tomb,
Rolled away the stone.
Green is the color of
the brand new life
We find in Jesus Christ
Blue is the color
of the comfort and peace He gives,
even in the midst of strife.
Purple is the color
Used to dress a king.
Remember the rainbow and
How Christ gave us everything.


This book can become many things. You can write your own rainbow poem or story in it, cut out same colored items from magazines and make a rainbow collage,
or think of items that are that color and draw them in yourself.
Turn it into your own favorite bedtime story so that you too can have rainbow dreams!
For older kids who want to get in on the fun have them check out some rainbow history.

This is a video of the same process.

Artisitic Progeny

People often assume that because I am an art teacher, that my kids take lessons from me and that they must love having an art teacher for a mom. Kids tell me they wish their mom or dad was an art teacher. The fact of my profession is pretty much lost on my kids though. They hate taking classes with me. I did make them for a time, but then I realized I just needed to back off. They still consult me here and there for technical advice, but mostly they just practice on their own. The above photos show the results of that approach. These were done by my 9 year old son. He just got a brand new set of   48 Dick Blick Studio markers today. They are pretty much equivalent to Prismacolor Markers, just not quite as expensive. I don't know how long they will last, and Ryan seems intent on testing their longevity-TODAY! Ryan has a real intuitive sense of shading. His pencil work has floored me many times and he seems to be on the fast path to mastering blending techniques with makers as well. I would like to think that this has come from watching me and listening to the nuggets of wisdom I impart here and there. Although I am starting to think that it may be far less about me as much as it is giving him the freedom to play with quality materials as well as subject matter. You see we get a lot of guns, various explosives, and technical machinery in Ry's portfolio, but they are beautifully shaded. Would he have put so much effort into some subject I chose for him? I don't think so. Eventually he will need to learn how giving yourself limitations as an artist actually gives you more freedom to explore, but for now I will stand back and just watch- in awe.

Getting Inspired

"Good artists borrow, great artists steal." A famous quote supposedly uttered by Picasso. Whether or not he actually said it though, it is a universal truth. This article explores this and gives some other great advice for artists of all ages. Go and check it out. Bookmark it while you're there, you'll be glad you did!

How to Steal LIke an Artist and 9 Other Things Nobody Told Me...