Art for Sale...

Above is an illustration I designed for the STUDIO Magazine entitled, i dream. It was featured in the The Studio Museum in Harlem's STUDIO Magazine. The edition is below and still available at the Studio Museum in Harlem, for FREE! It begins on page 74 to page 77. There's a project and 2 coloring pages.

I loved the artwork I found on society6 so I joined and posted, just in time for the holidays.
They can be shipped in this beautiful frame. Very Beautiful. All original artwork by me, Elan and more to come.

http://society6.com/ElanHi/framed-prints

The Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall

I have recommended this book a lot this month so I figured I would post it as the book of the Month. Presenting, The Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall and Pictures by Barbara Cooney. It is a wonderful story of a simple and beautiful family that worked together on their farm.
The Ox-Cart Man, was a winner of the Caldecott Medal and a title worth reading.
Some topics that can be discussed after reading this book are seasons, harvest, green living, farm life, pioneers and hobbies. I also love the illustrations in this book. Each page is filled with delicate details and bold color.

Enjoy!

Artist Valentina...

I LOVE VALENTINA's Artwork. It is absolutely beautiful and you can get it put on a shirt, computer and phone. I love everything.
http://society6.com/valentinaramos

There Was An Old Woman That Swallowed Some Leaves

This is a great book to read in the fall because it talks about leaves, the students learn sequencing, the scarecrow is so cute and the students LOVE to help for the sneeze part.

Painting Ideal Places to Go

We are learning about Romare Bearden in Ms. D's kindergarten class and so I read Lilly Brown's Painting by Angela Johnson and illustrated by E.B. Lewis. We talked about Romare Bearden and how he sometimes used paint in his collages. The students were first asked to draw a place that they would want to go. Then I gave them paint to fill the images in with color. I did give them one rule: they had to incorporate shapes into the picture.

I plan to read Mathew's Dream by Leo Lionni, next. We will be working with abstractions, Kandinsky and oil pastels. Fun times. :)

Deep Space Sparkle...

JUST FOUND AN EXCITING WEBSITE FILLED WITH GREAT IDEAS!
She is an Awesome art teacher that teaches K thru 6 elementary school. She sells lesson plans which I think is very helpful and smart. Great resource!
I love it.
http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/store/ipnmonitorv6/index_table.php

Bear Book Project

This project can be done with most bear books but it is best with Old Bear by Kevin Henkes. Old Bear can be used to discuss change of season, hibernation, bears and color. My class consists of 4 to 5 year old children so I have broken this project down to three steps.

First step: Create a scene and/or background for the bear. The students can pick what type of season/weather are in the background. The only suggestion is that the sky must be created with the use of swirly lines and the grass must consist of straight lines.

Second step: We create fur for our bears, preferably with short straight lines.
I only suggest these things to my students but each child's interpretation of these things can and will be different and that is very good.

Third step: We glue the bear to his/her environment. Easy and beautiful.

I have learned that not all students jump into an art project with enthusiasm so suggestions are helpful guides.
Here is another version of this project that I have found for 4th graders, http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2009/09/old-bear-leaf-print-and-bear-painting/
VERY BEAUTIFUL!

Print Making at HSA

So the students at the Harlem School of the Arts have been doing some print making and so to brush up on my skills I googled prints and happened upon Paper City, a blog of artist Emma Allen. I enjoyed what I saw so much I thought that I would share.
http://paper-city-inspiration.blogspot.com/2011/01/long-overdue-print-work-final-prints.html#comment-form
Above is one of her images. Original artwork by Emma Allen.

A Perfect Square meets The Wild Things Project

I read Perfect Square by Michael Hall and Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. We had a fabulous time ripping paper and creating backdrops for our Wild Things to wander. I used a very old book that was to be thrown away. Since it was falling apart I figured it wouldn't miss it's characters. I also had the students create themselves and incorporate themselves into the collage. They all had different pieces and I think they all did beautifully.

Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold

TMA Gems listened to the delightful story of a little girl that lives in the BIG city entitled, Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold. The students were asked to draw their family inside a rectangle on the white paper and then we created a patchwork frame with fabric squares. This is the family portrait project.

Jazzy City Scapes Project

These are Jazzy City Scapes we did after reading UPTOWN by Brian Collier. I love collage and cityscapes are fantastic projects for reinforcing shapes, and vocabulary such as background, foreground and collage.