Birds of a Feather

Posted on January 21, 2016 by Mama Cormier

…..just add a beak to a scrap piece of paper and voila you have a bird

I got this idea from Carla Sonheim and I find that it works with all age groups. I’ve used it with kindergarten children and children in grades 1 to 5.

This year I had the children create a tree by printing the shape with the edge of a piece of thick cardboard dipped in brown paint. While we waited for it to dry I had the students practise drawing a variety of leaf shapes and then deciding which one they would use on their tree.

Once the paint dried I instructed the students to tear small pieces of coloured and patterned papers and then glue them to the tree branches. With a pencil or a black Sharpie they started creating their birds by adding a beak and then an eye. After that they could add as much or as little detail as they wanted. Once the birds were done they were instructed to draw the leaves in the open spaces and colour them in.

I love how these turned out. The following are examples from my grade two class.

Going Back to the Basics

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….I haven’t posted any art in awhile

My life has been in a bit of a turmoil lately and I find it difficult to find time to work on my bigger art projects. Not having my space to work in doesn’t help either but I have managed to do some small daily drawing assignments in the last six days.

Lisa Congden is the artist who is challenging her followers to draw simple objects every day for 31 days. Lisa Congden from Creative Bug is a graphic and textile designer who hosts numerous on-line classes at this site. For a very small monthly fee you can access numerous how to videos for lots of DIY projects.

Here are some of the drawings from the first six days. I need to work on my sneaker skills.

WPC – Circle

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge is circle

Bench Series #49

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….. for the month of December Jude from Travel Words challenges us to post a bench of our choice

When I saw that I could post a photo of any bench that I liked I remembered coming across two very unusual benches in the park that I frequently walk through. These two benches are part a memorial garden for the former patients of the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital that closed its doors in the late 1970s. They look more like sculptures but you can sit on them.

Imaginary Creatures Created From Sidewalk Cracks

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….I can’t tell you how much my students loved going outside and sketching the cracks in the pavement

Today my grade two students took their favourite sidewalk crack and using it as the starting point drew an imaginary creature. I can’t take credit for this idea. I’m taking an on-line class with Carla Sonheim called Imaginary Creatures and one of the assignments was to pull out images from cracks anywhere you could them.

Here are some of the creatures that my grade two class created today. I included two of the original cracks that inspired the finished project. I hope you enjoy them!

Blindly Drawing Lines to Create an Abstract Masterpiece

Posted on November 21, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….with their eyes closed my students started to draw lines randomly across their paper

I didn’t want students to have a preconceived idea of what they wanted to draw so I asked them to close their eyes, and start drawing one continuous line all over their paper. When they opened their eyes they were allowed to add some more line if there was a lot of untouched space or if some of the shapes that they created were very large.

They rotated their paper to see which way they wanted to orientate their design and then they chose a variety of pencil crayon colours. I encouraged them to start with one colour and fill in spaces in different areas of the paper. Then they moved on to the next colour and then the next. When they had used all their colours they re-examined their work and decided where more colour was needed and determined if it was balanced.

After all the colour had been added I suggested to some that they go over some of the same areas again so that the shapes were fully covered. Once that was done they were allowed to take a black fine point Sharpie and start adding some line detail to their shapes. Some students found animal shapes and added eyes, noses and scales, while others made random lines and dashes.

I think they did an amazing job. These samples were done by my grade 1 and grade 2 classes.

Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge – Horizons and Horizontal Lines

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….week 6 of Cee’s new photo challenge

Starry Nights in Oil Pastel and Watercolour

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….children in grades one, two and three create their own version of Van Gogh’s Starry, Starry Night

Once again I was inspired by Carla Sonheim’s Free Kids Online Art Classes. In week two Diane Culhane introduced the kids to a crayon resist night sky.

The children loved how the watercolour brought up the crayon designs, especially the white marks. They also loved sprinkling salt over their creations. The concept of cutting out a black silhouette of a city or country skyline was a bit more challenging, especially for the grade ones. Here’s a collection of paintings created by my grade two class.

Warm and Cool Picasso Dogs

Posted on October 10, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….this will be the last group of Picasso Dogs that I post

Carla Sonheim has inspired me to teach my students about Picasso. Each grade level was approached slightly differently to meet the curriculum expectations for that grade. This gallery of Picasso Dogs was done by my grade three class and the emphasis was on cool and warm colours.

How Would You Look if You Played a Part in the New Peanuts Movie?

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Mama Cormier

…..this is fun to play with

Chris Donner over at Cee’s Photography introduced my to Get Peanutized. The new Peanuts movie is coming out this November and this website lets you create your own Peanuts Character. Of course I had to have long blonde hair and those cool red heart shaped glasses. I also loved school so my setting is in front of the lockers with my sidekick, Snoopy. Give it a try!