BAD hair day

It seems like many classes have been painting lately. We talk a lot about the projects and color choices etc... but I have a few terms/techniques I like to use to help my students learn about taking care of our materials. First, water tubs are called "Hot tubs" and we fill them half full of cold water.  This hopefully prevents overflowing waters and most spills.  When we paint we try and do Five laps around the hot tub and carefully wipe our brushes. We don't knock them on the side or we will splatter water dots on our friend's artwork.  Now brush care has always been a problem. I talk about the gentle way we should treat our brushes by painting on the top of my hand softly as if petting a baby chick. This is a good reminder that I am just demonstrating and we DO NOT paint on our hands (seems like there is one in every class) Also, we don't smash our brushes into the paint...we are gentle so our brushes don't have a BAD HAIR DAY!  I'd love to hear any other tips.

Comments

  1. Ms NovakJanuary 8, 2012 at 5:34 PM

    I always tell them to "tickle" the paint -- this helps with the little kids especially.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mrs. FritzJanuary 9, 2012 at 4:21 PM

    I tell them no "chicken foot" brushes. It's a funny name, but they remember it well with minimal reminders.

    ReplyDelete
  3. PhylJanuary 9, 2012 at 6:44 PM

    I have the Mr. Brush posters (from Royal's "big kid" paintbrushes). The posters were handed out by a distributor at my state conference, and the kids think they are great. One deals with brush care (don't chew on my handle, etc..) and one has his whole family and introduces flats, filberts, rounds, fans etc.

    I have these oval sponges that we call the "ugly sponges". We use them to wipe excess paint or water off brushes. It helps keep the water clean. So my mantra is "wipe, wash, wipe" and it works quite well. We also talk about using a brush like petting a kitten. It's not a good idea to pet it in the wrong direction or ruffle its fur or it might scratch or bite!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousJanuary 11, 2012 at 3:23 PM

    Don't you love this sharing of knowledge. I used the "Tickle" the paint yesterday and Chicken foot today. Phyl, how do you keep them from using the sponges to wipe the tables? My students are sponge crazy and love to squeeze the water out

    ReplyDelete
  5. ArtMuseJanuary 11, 2012 at 6:32 PM

    Your brush picture had me laughing out loud! I have about 600 students and I'm swamped so I have no idea how you teach almost double that! Great blog, I'm glad I found it :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. PaintedpaperFebruary 5, 2012 at 10:40 AM

    I say "pet" the dog or cat. Gently go back and forth! :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Twitter

Image
Thanks to mesmrswhitesclass.blogspot.com  who gave me the idea for this bulletin board. When our district kicked off the new school year, teachers spent time "Tweeting" each other as part of our break out session. While I lOVE lots of technology I am still a bit old school and like paper and pencil in hand. My oldest son is a SUPER senior in architecture and I remember him telling me how some students struggled with perspective drawing because they had learned only in a computer program unlike Jeff who learned the way I did over 25 years ago. Just today I had a teacher ask me advice about her son's college direction and I always say, "Tons of kids want to be game designers or graphic designers, do them a favor and make them take a ceramics or sculpture class, they need to experience 3D, hands on." Okay, off my soapbox. This was just a fun idea and by 2:00 the board was FULL of ideas on how "Awesome" a teacher is or how a grade level "Rocks!"...
Read more

Cupcakes!

Image
I have seen several art teachers do this lesson and I knew I had to try it. I purchased metal molds from Bed,Bath and Beyond. Day one the students push a ball of clay into the mold and cut off the extra clay. Then they form a pinch pot for the top portion adding any details. I have them put their name on a piece of paper to separate the two pieces so I can later add their names to the bottom. One piece of advice, make sure you have at least a 1/4 inch thickness around the mold. It it's too thin it will crack.  Bisque fire then glaze, day two and three.
Read more

Lines with Kinders

Image
In past years I have usually done a two day lesson on Mondrian. We paint large black lines across our body and then paint in primary colors the next lesson. This year I have a young (er) group of students and since it's only week 3 they are still learning procedures in the art room. I decided instead to discuss line in a different way. On top of that some wonderful staff member put a HUGE stack of precut strips of colored paper on my desk. I HAVE AN IDEA!   We discussed how lines can bend and fold and go over and under.  The students were so excited. I also tried out plastic containers with sponges soaked in glue.  Much less messy but make sure the sponges are just barely moist as water and glue make an adhesive that may not stick as well.  An update on the master's research...10 more weeks and I won't know what to do with the 20+ hours I will have to, oh I don't know, create ART!
Read more