It's a Small World Mural - Time-Lapse Video - 3rd, 4th, & 5th

Mary Blair and Joey Chou are the inspiration behind these murals. I loved Mary Blair's original work for Disney. All of her amazing illustrations remind me of my childhood. Joey Chou was hired to modernize her It's a Small World illustrations. He did an amazing job and is now a big source of inspiration of mine.

I pre-drew several versions of the city on paper before I grabbed my chalk and drew on the black paper. But when I start, I like it to flow, I do not stick to the drawing. It is more a guideline and source of ideas. 

Once the whole drawing is complete, I go mix my paint. MIX PAINT BEFORE NUMBERING! You need to know how many numbers you need. I like to mix a lot of intermediate colors, trying to stretch the color wheel. 

Once colors are mixed,  I number and create a chart for myself. Additionally, I set up a paint cart and get it labeled and numbered. 

Once the paint is mixed, I number the painting! usually 20-26 colors... depending on the subject. 

When students start painting, they are instructed to OUTLINE each shape before painting it in. They get one color, I hand them the cup. They look for their number only. For the most part, they all do it perfectly. I do not worry if there is a spot painted with the wrong number.

Once we got most the mural painted in, I added the black and white ribbon in the background and the tile look at the bottom. It needed a break in color. Then to fill in the back ground, we printed with large sponges on sticks, gold tempera paint. It finished it off!

3rd Grade - Laurel Burch inspired Suns & Moons

These are so happy! A very simple lesson... we looked at the art of Laurel Burch. She is most known for her cats, but she did some other subjects like suns & moons too. Students could decide which, sun, moon or a sun/moon combo. We worked in warms and cools. 

First step, we traced a 8" circle in the middle of a 18x18 piece of colored construction. We drew very little with pencil. The large eyes, long nose. Then depending on what type of ray... triangular or more soft, they drew one at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock. Then we got the paint out and outlines the pencil lines carefully, and added more rays and details. The second day, we started coloring. I recommended warm and cool colors, since we discussed all the color groups. But I always like to leave it up to them. It is always more creative looking. 

2nd Grade - Laurel Burch Fantastic Felines!

A real favorite of mine... Top 10 when it comes to results. My students have always done an amazing job with this lesson. After a BIG look and discussion about the beautiful designs, patterns and colors of Laurel Burch's Fantastic Felines... we get to it!

I teach 4 sections of each grade level. To stay organized and add variety to our show, I have two classes use warm color papers, the other two classes, cool colored paper. Students get to choose, from 4-5 colors. First, students are taught how to draw the sitting cat and laying cat with just chalk on the board. They choose the one they want to paint...

and then we get started...

It seems scary to paint direct, with no pencil drawing first, but I prefer to. The only thing students draw with pencil is the head. I have them trace a 6" circle in the top corner of the paper first. It establishes scale. We start with outlining the head with black tempera, then draw the front legs. Tall cats - I stress all the way down to the bottom of the paper. Laying cat - under the head towards the bottom. 

Then paint the cat's back, stretching all the way over to the side of the paper and down. Then the back leg, big letter C with a foot that is a flat littler c. 

The face details - large human like eyes, long nose and simple smile. Then PATTERNS! We stop for a minute and look at her cats again and look at the patterns she used. I demonstrate painting the patterns on the whole cat and then let them go!

Coloring, we discuss her use of warm and cool colors but I give them freedom to be creative with their color choices. I only stress good craftsmanship, careful, purposeful coloring.