Art with Mrs. O'Neill

 I love the vibrancy that art tissue gives to artwork and this is one of my favorite projects to do using bleeding art tissue.  I precut squares of tissue and have students apply it to their papers with water (the more water the better) I tell them. I encourage them to think about color choices or even have them choose to work with warm or cool colors, etc.  We leave it and allow the tissue to dry on the paper. The next class we use the paper we created to make a Notan or other collage on black paper. The bright  colors are very striking against the black background!   

1st graders just learned about matisse & we created some great goldfish collage artwork. Here's some of the completed work.

I have been doing some fun dessert art projects with 1st-4th grade. We looked at Wayne Theibauds work for inspiration and created an assortment of cakes and ice cream. 

We have been working on an architecture unit in 2nd grade based on the book Roberto the Insect Architect.   We did a lot of brainstorming about the types of buildings needed in a community and then students created a collage. I loved their creativity on the buildings!  This project also made a great display on a bulletin board!

I found this lesson while on Pinterest & just had to try it. The kids did a great job & the Art turned out fabulous! We spent our 1st lesson learning about mixing tints & shades. I had students fold a 12x18 paper into 8 sections. Then they painted each section a different tint or shade. Each table had a different color & black & white to mix with. The 2nd class was spent cutting their painted paper into scoops. They stacked the scoops & some added toppings from our scrap paper. Kids always love dessert as the subject for their artwork & they had a lot of fun with this project

This is a glimpse at some of our 3rd graders work for the pop art sandwich project we used for arts night.  Students were given an introduction to pop art & are using collage to create their own pop art themed sandwiches.

1st graders have been learning about Claude Monet and his Impressionist style paintings, as well as his lovely garden. Here are some great books to use to teach his work: Phillipe in Monets Garden, The Magical Garden of Claude Monet, & Linnea in Monets Garden. We practiced mixing tints, and using dabbing painting techniques.(as many art teachers may know this can be a challenging technique for students, because they are used to painting lines...) Our second class was spent adding collage. We took brown & green paper strips to create the bridge. Then used tissue paper to add flowers. The kids had a lot of fun. Here's my bulletin board display.

This is an oldie but goodie! Students learn about Positive and Negative Space by cutting a symmetrical face out and then cutting the face in half then placing the pieces like a puzzle to create a whole face. This is also a great way to teach about contrasting colors!

Second graders have been working on 3 dimensional animals & their habitats. They have had a great time with this project. I gave them patterns to trace with a choice of 4 different animals. Explained how to fold the paper & cut to make a symmetrical animal. Then we used another lesson to create the animals habitat.