First graders need practice mixing secondary colors, but I just can’t get too excited over making color wheels on paper plates. Instead I ha...
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Watercolor Sailboats
The key to great watercolor resist paintings? Use lots of white crayon whenever possible, and try to have students draw with them directly o...
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Homemade Valentine Card
If you can get your hands on some fancy colored paper, this simple layout can make a really nice card. I used some sample rice papers from a...
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Red Chalkboard Wall
I’ve known about chalkboard paint for awhile, but I never knew you could mix your own. My super clever friends at Project HOPE Art knew ho...
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Over 300 Sundresses Delivered to Haiti
If you’ve been following HOPE Art’s Dress Drive , then you’ll love seeing these beautiful Haitian girls wearing their new homemade sundresse...
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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 on...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 wi...
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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 th...
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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 Ar...
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“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 t...
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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’...
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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...
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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” wh...
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Tiki Faces
Drawing a Tiki face is all about making symmetrical shapes, and usually captures the attention of some of the more “restless” students. 1. G...
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Senofu Spirit Drawings
The Senufo people of West Africa’s Ivory Coast are renowned for their cloth paintings. They believe their artwork has special meaning and h...
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“Focal Point” Valentine
This is an exercise to have students think about how they can make their art have a focal point by using different colors, patterns, values,...
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Falling Away Drawing
Students start with tracing their own hands and shoes to make thislarge “falling away” drawing. 1. A large piece of paper is needed, about 1...
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New Year Art Journal Page
Another reason I love the Strathmore Art Journal books? Their pages are not only great for drawing, but watercolor painting as well. Studen...
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How to Draw a Winter Tree
Winter brings bare trees, and the to chance study and draw them without any worries about leaves. I’ve posted my favorite method of drawing ...
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How to Draw a Rooster
I’ve been trying to find a way to work roosters into an art class, and think this drawing in oil pastel will work well. The feathers look go...
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Chameleon Watercolor Painting
This first grader amazes me every week. While the rest of the class was doing variations of my rainbow and spotted sample art, he very quiet...
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Radiating Valentine Card
This is a variation of another post called Fireworks Drawing, just using a heart as the center shape this time. 1. I used a 1 1/2" hear...
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Sitting Valentine Kids
I’m a sucker for personalized Valentines, and I’m guessing most parents are too. The most time intensive part of this project is getting e...
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How to Draw Cartoon Faces
The great thing about cartoon drawing is that it is simply meant to “suggest” things like eyes, nose, hair, etc. I have plans for a big comi...
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How to Draw Chinese Lanterns
This year, the Chinese New Year starts on Monday, January 23rd. It is the most important event in the Chinese calendar and lots of paper lan...
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An Eye for Magritte
René Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist who became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images. He wanted to challen...
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Landscape with Hatching Shading
Hatching is an artistic technique used to create tonal effects by drawing closely spaced parallel lines. A simple landscape drawing is a goo...
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Clothespin Horse
Even though this little horse looks simple, it takes a bit of finessing to make the legs stand and to clip all the pieces together. Gluing i...
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Oil Pastel Portraits – Modigliani Style
Amedeo Modigliani was famous for his elongated and elegant portraits , painted in Paris back in the early 1900s. Heads and necks were long ...
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Finish the Picture
I’ve done a dozen variations of this project over the years, and always love how it both guides the student’s drawing and encourages creativ...
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First Printmaking Project
I learned in my afterschool printmaking class, once again, that keeping things simple really helps when introducing young students to a new...
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Recycled Bottle Head Dress
This comes from Christopher L. Mitchell Photography in Haiti. That head dress is made from plastic bottles! In fact, I think all the headwe...
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