Art Fair/Reveal

The Art Fair was a huge success. I was really impressed by the number of parents that came out to see the mural and the kids' art that was displayed around the school.

Mr. Landon introduced me, and probably thought he was doing me a favor by not handing my the mic, but I did wish I had gotten the opportunity to give a huge thanks to the kids and all of their hard work. They totally rocked it!

I also wanted to talk about the meaning of the six character words growing in the gardens. It was meant to represent the little ones who come into Kindergarten like little seeds. Just like a garden they grown when nourished, and they are nourished with knowledge while they are in school. Each year they get a little bigger, and their characters ripen, until they are ready to be plucked from the garden and sent off to junior high.

Pablo Picasso said, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain one, once he grows up." I wanted to tell the kids that if they enjoyed making art with me, to do it every day, and they will continue to grow as an artist.

I loved inspiring the kids, and they showed their appreciation each and every day when they would give me hugs, and make me pictures. Thank you, kids!

Completed

The mural is done!!! The kids did such a great job. It turned out better than I could even imagine. I think my favorite part is the paper parts we cut out and collaged onto the canvas. I loved every minute it took to create this mural, and I can't wait to see what it looks like hung up on the wall tomorrow. They started hanging it as I was leaving today, and I just couldn't believe that it was done.

I hope the kids had fun too. They always seemed very happy to see me, and to get to paint. I think they were a little disappointed when it was all done. They wanted to do more.

We've been drawing monsters with the oil pastels, and there sure are some creative, imaginative kids at Hancock! They made some very scary, and some very adorable little creatures.

Today I set up a still life for the afternoon classes. They did an amazing job drawing it with the pastels. Such talented kids!

Almost Finished

Things are looking great on the mural. We are down to the last panel or two, and adding the details. In addition to the mural, the kids have been doing their own art projects to take home. The third graders spent one session putting color blocks all over their papers with crayons. The next session, they painted over it with black paint. Then they scratched into the paint to reveal the colors underneath. Very cool!

Working with Students

I have finally begun to work with the students on the mural, and on some art projects for fun.

I knew I couldn't have 30 kids all painting on the mini-canvases at the same time, so I had them draw sticks as they came to see me on the stage. The sticks were different colors, and determined which group they would be in. I then had them rotating to different stations with different mediums at each station. They chose a color page that I copied from a coloring book of famous masterpieces. They would then use the different mediums on their one coloring page. Watercolor, crayon, colored pencil, marker and oil pastels. Working on the canvas was also a station. They really seemed to enjoy this, and it kept everyone busy, and since the timer was set for just 3-4 minutes at each station, no one got bored.

The younger kids worked with me in their classrooms. I had them painting full pages of one color to be used for the lettering and details on the mural. I was a little worried they would be bored just filling a whole sheet with one color paint, but they all kept saying how fun it was. The older kids will trace and cut out the lettering for the big mural and we will adhere it with gel medium.

So far everything has been going really well. I don't have any down time, and actually feel rushed during my 15 minutes between sessions. It takes me the whole time to clean up and set up for the next group.

It's coming along very nicely. I can't wait to see what it looks like with the lettering glued on it.

Sneak Peek

Here are three of the eight canvases that will make up the whole mural. As I was taking them into the school, it was lunch time, and all of the kids were very curious about what I was carrying.