Earth Day?

I always forget when Earth Day is Earth Day...but not this year! In honor of Earth Day, here are some posters done by a pair of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders -respectively- for a poster contest in our county. Fingers crossed we win!

The theme of the poster contest was resource conservation. With the students we discussed elements of a good poster; critiquing different types of posters and why they were effective or ineffective. The students had to create a poster with a consistent message with imagery or a theme that helped support their message. Overall, I think these are fantastic results!

This post, along with honoring Earth Day, also honors me missing two Wednesdays and Sundays in a row! Whoo! To be fair...I was sick. Again. So don't judge me.

Enjoy!

<3 Kate

Nooooo Onnnneeee...

...fights like Gaston! Takes cheap shots like Gaston! No one persecutes harmless crackpots like Gaston (best line)! He's no princess, but he is is an awesomely egotistical jerk of a villian who, sadly, gets overlooked beneath the Ursulas and Maleficents of the Disney universe. Siiigh.

So! My tribute to Gaston! He's epic.

He flexes his muscles just for you, ladies.

Enjoy!

<3 Kate

Sunday Funday

Except it isn't a fun day. Because I'm sick. It feels like my head weighs a thousand pounds. Whomp whomp. All I know is that I better kick this illness by tomorrow because teaching while sick is far from fun. Anyway! In my attempt to maintain the Wednesday/Sunday posting schedule here is the first Sunday post!

Along with some commissions, I've been working on a Disney series. They've actually been a lot of fun! I've been working primarily with a circle composition so it's a nice challenge to see how I can rearrange each piece. Here are the first three in the series: Ariel, Rapunzel, and Snow White.

I currently have five in the series so perhaps my next post will be the others! I hope you enjoy! For now I'm going to go back to wallowing on the couch. Later, internet.

<3 Kate

Don't worry Internet, I didn't leave you!

Wow! Well, it's been about a month since I posted last. I'm the worst! In an effort to never do that again I've made a resolution: I'm going to post every Wednesday and Sunday. Hopefully. Maybe. Fingers crossed. So far I'm off to a good start because - lo' and behold! - today is Wednesday!

Lately I've been setting up for a county-wide art show. It requires 15 - 30 pieces of student art work that are lovingly matted, labeled, and velcro'd. It's time consuming, to say the least, but this year I'm pretty pleased with my display! It boasts all 1st grade artwork because, I have to say, my 1st graders this year are awesome. Just a genuinely nice batch of kids and fearlessly creative. As such, we've been experimenting with all sorts of materials ranging from salt to melted crayons! We've have an absolute blast doing it to! It's always great when you have a group of kids that are enthusiastic, respectful, and creative all at once. It makes a lesson go smoothly with awesome results. Below are the panels of the kiddies work:

What great art! First, we have visual texture trees with a watercolor and salt background. The students used masking tape, ripping it into pieces, to create the trees. Then they painted over the trees using a wet-on-wet watercolor technique and salt. FInally, they added visual textures using pen. 

There are some amazingly expressive self-portraits (ie: the one on the far bottom left), but I'm very proud of our melted crayon artwork. The artwork was inspired by the contemporary artists Eli Halpin's Summer Lightning (see below).

After discussing line quality, color, and texture we created our own compositions using tempera paint, watercolor, and melted crayon! It was a blast.

If you want to learn more about Eli Halpin and her artwork you can visit: http://elihalpin.com/home.html

Her artwork is wonderful and, obviously, I do not own the rights to any of her work. I was only using her as inspiration for what turned out to be an awesome lesson that the students loved!

Anyway, that's all for now internet! Until Sunday! Enjoy!

<3 Kate