Pink Dinosaurs

I chose dinosaurs as my after school oil pastel project today, wondering if I would get any objections from my female students. Well, not only did they make some of the prettiest and pinkest stegosauruses you ever saw, one girl proceeded to rattle off more dino facts than I have ever heard before.

1. Students followed my drawing, starting with the back, then belly and legs. The triangle plates were added last, starting with small ones at the end and large in the middle.

2. All the pencil lines were traced with a black Sharpie marker.

3. All the shapes were colored in with Portfolio® Oil Pastels.
Thanks so much to Kaylee, a talented first grader who made this amazing drawing today!

Many-Colored Hands

I’ve found that students new to oil pastels often need to be guided to use them to their full potential, namely layering them. This project can be a good practice as they will be able to see that brown pastel colored over gold, for example, makes a completely different color than gold colored over brown.

1. Students are to trace their hand as many times as the they can on a piece of paper, all of them just touching each other to create lots of closed spaces. No overlapping!
2. After the hands are traced in pencil, the lines are traced with a fat black Sharpie marker.
3. The hands are colored in with oil pastels, using as many combinations as possible. My sample uses peach, golden brown, medium brown, pink and white in different layers.
4. Lastly, the closed shapes around the hands are colored with different pastels.

Bernard Hoyes-Inspired Dancing Lady

Jamaican-born artist Bernard Hoyes is a Caribbean national who has served his country well. Now residing in California, Hoyes is among the most widely collected and exhibited of contemporary artists. Through his art, many have been able to connect with Jamaica’s colorful traditions and culture.
1. Past experience has proven that students almost always draw images too small, so requiring art to touch all four sides of the paper helps to eliminate this tendency. Give each student an 8.5"x11" piece of paper and ask them to draw two hands as indicated in diagram #1.
2. A simple dress is drawn connected to the hands, with a hem that touches the bottom of the paper. No feet are necessary, just a simple outline of a dress.
3. A neck and head are added, either straightforward or at an angle.
4. A turban and center knot that touch the top of the paper are added. Once the drawing is done, all the pencil lines are traced with a thick black marker. The skin is colored, along with the dress and background.

Recycled Paper Heart Valentine

This heart is made from just newspaper, white glue, string and some pretty sparkle paint.
1. Tear about 8 sheets of newspaper (lengthwise will be the easiest direction) into 1" strips. Cut those strips into little 1/2" bits and place in a large bowl. Cover with hot water and let soak for 24 hours.
2. The paper will start to look like a pulp. Work it through your fingers, tearing up any large lumps so that it looks like gray oatmeal. When the lumps are gone, take a large handful of pulp and squeeze out all the extra water.
3. Working the pulp in your hands, add white glue to the mixture at about a ratio of about 1 unit of glue to 4 units of pulp. Form a ball, place it on wax paper and press to form a flat heart that is at least 1" thick. Let dry for several hours or until it starts to harden. When you can pick up the heart, wrap it with a length of string, pulling firmly to make indentations. Tuck the ends into the back.
5. When the heart is dry, paint the entire shape with a thick layer of white acrylic paint. Let dry and then paint with a thick layer of red paint. Let dry and have fun experimenting with smudges that emphasis the texture of your heart. I added some glitter paint for a final touch. A spray of a glossy sealer would be a good idea to finish off your project.

How to Draw a Rose

I have a feeling that many students are going to be asking their teachers and parents “How do I draw a rose?” in the next few weeks, so I thought I’d diagram how I draw mine.

1. Follow the steps shown to draw your flower with a pencil. The gray lines indicate erasing.

2. Trace your flower with a Sharpie marker.

3. This flower is colored in with Portfolio® Oil Pastels, but any bright colors will do.

Hearts for Haiti

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. You can get handmade, one-of-a-kind ceramic hearts for your loved one and support Project HOPE Art’s work in Haiti too. Visit our Etsy shop Hope Art Hearts to place an order. Thanks everyone!!

“Art Ed Blogs of the Year” Results

I just learned that I placed 2nd in “Art Ed Blogs of the Year”! How exciting! Thanks so much to Jessica at Art of Education for sponsoring this event, and to everyone who voted for me. It’s nice to see our art blogging community just get bigger and better every year.

Hearts of Many Colors

I believe there are times to plan your art with a pencil, and there are times you just need to jump right in and draw with a brush. You can’t go wrong with these rows of delicate hearts, even if they do get crooked and lopsided. In fact, I think they may get even better.

Start with real watercolor paper, and Educational Mixable Crayola Watercolor Mixing Sets. They really are great and allow all the color variety you see here. With a small brush, cup of water and plate for mixing, challenge your students to paint rows of even hearts, mixing new colors for each one. The Crayola Set comes with white and black and brilliant blues and violets so many combinations are possible.

HOPE Art and Haiti and Tutus

Some of the ladies from HOPE Art traveled back to Haiti this month, and along with hundreds of homemade sundresses, delivered tutus (thanks Tutus.com!) for the girls to enjoy. Take a peek at this clip and see if it doesn’t warm your heart...

Faith Ringgold Flag Story Quilt

Faith Ringgold, an African-American artist, is best known for her large story quilts. In 1985 she made a piece titled “Flag Story Quilt” which inspired this collage.

1. To help cut swatches, I gave the students  this template to follow, printed on 8.5" x 11" cardstock. I passed out several old magazines to have them cut out swatches of red, and black and white type to fill in the stripes and blue swatches to fill in the rectangle. The pieces were attached with glue stick.
2. Students covered the blue rectangle with glue stick and arranged the hole punch circles for stars, as shown.