Stained Glass- Cubist Inspired Candles

We did this piece with watercolor pencils. I think I might use crayons and liquid watercolors if I did it again. The results are still cool, kind of rough and grainy like old stained glass.

I had the students begin this project by drawing the candle. With young artists, I remind them to make their candle large on the page, if I don't remind them, they will usually draw it relatively small.

With a ruler, the students then  draw lines at angles across the page, crossing through the candle.

I asked them to use warm colors for the candle and cool in the background.

6th Grader

My Example

4th Grader

2nd Grader

Oil Pastel Perspective

The base of this was sketched with pencil, placing the bushes in the forefront, the tree in the middle ground and another bush in the background. The leaves vary in size to appear to be blowing towards the viewer. A lovely perspective piece.I remind my students how different oil pastels are from crayons and to take advantage of the capability of blending colors and mixing colors when using oil pastels.

Oil Pastel - 5th Grader

Oil Pastel - 4th Grader

Oil Pastel - 1st Grader (I love the freedom in this one)

Oil Pastel - 3rd Grader

Holiday Tree

I saw this project on Pinterest. I loved the simplicity of the lines and shapes. 

The instructions:

1) Draw a base of snow or ground for the tree to sit on.

2) Draw the triangle of the tree.

3) Draw circles of different sizes making sure some of them overlap the tree and the background.

4) The tree triangle needs to be greens,but the circles need to differentiate in color.

5) The rest of the coloring and background was individual and unique as you can tell by the examples below.

Markers - 2nd Grader

Markers - 4th Grader

Markers - 5th Grader

Markers - 3rd Grader

Planning the Actual Art Auction Function

This is a reproduction of a Georgia O'Keefe piece.
I created it with oil pastels. My second graders will be
doing this collaborative piece. The final size is 22"x17".

Our art auction will be a silent one. It closes the night of the event, a dinner gala. To entice the families to attend, I'm exhibiting the artwork one month in advance from the actual function to get everyone excited about the event.

For the past two weeks I've been cutting mat board for all of the art work. I'm using glue stick to mount them. I tried the spray mount and it just didn't work as well. I've designed a poster, invitation and postcard, I'm just worried that I'm not getting it out early enough. I know how busy parents are and how fast their calendars fill up.

Matisse inspired Collaborative piece
I created in oil pastel. The kids will be
recreating a rectangle and I'll put them
together into one piece.

I'm creating labels that identify (especially on collaborative pieces) who did what part. I like the kids taking ownership and pride in their art. I'll create a separate page that displays all of the final work somehow. That could be another way to market it to parents. If I make a slide show or a page on Shutterfly that allowed parents to at least purchase a photo of a piece that seems like a good idea. Sometimes, a good writing brainstorm is what's needed.

Bottom line, doing this art auction is for a good cause, but it's a lot of work. I've spent many evening hours watching my favorite Gilmore Girls while I'm mounting artwork.  

Choosing Projects for the Art Auction

Choosing projects for my upcoming April Art Auction has been challenging. I want the projects to be more than just fingerprints or a poster of multiple student pieces. I want kids to create pieces that I'd put on my wall in my home.

3rd-5th Grade Project

I have a huge skills gap between kindergartners and fifth graders, so I've kept that in mind during my search. My Third-Fifth grade students will be doing an acrylic painting of Koi Fish, individually. It is a painting that teaches them how to layer paint, and will span across three class periods. It is also a great lesson on composition and arranging a painting. Here is an example of the piece they will recreate with their own personal flare.

The Second grade piece, which I will post a sample of after I've completed it, will be a watercolor of birch trees. I've seen this done on multiple sites and can't wait to see how it goes. The students will do two paintings. One painting with be with the lighting at night, and one at sunrise. Each student will have both of their pieces mounted side by side and auctioned off that way.

The First graders will be creating Mondrian-inspired pieces, using primary colors. Again they will be small pieces so that I can mount three students per mat board (won't that create some bidding wars, tee hee.)

One of my Kindergarten classes will be painting a 2-D tea cup. Using crayon and watercolors, they will have the freedom to design their tea cup with shapes and colors. I will be stacking five tea cups on each other and mounting them on one mat board.

My other Kindergarten class will be doing flowers and vases (2-D) using watercolors and acrylics. I'll be taking the flower bloom of five students and creating a 2-D bouquet and choosing five of the best vases to hold them.

I'll be creating samples of each of these pieces and post them as I go. Now that I've decided what will go into the auction, I will be creating a supply list and calendar for myself. It will be one thing to have the students create all the beautiful pieces, it will be another for me to pull it all together and mount them professionally.

We are already planning a week of preview in our school's entrance before the auction to get the parents and children excited. One concern I have is deciding whether every child gets to be a part of the auction or only the best artists. It is difficult to be that kind of judge, even if that is part of life, but I won't need to make that decision until much later.