I teach my art 1 kids how to shade, but I teach them how to do it with a pen.  I give them a quick pencil shading lesson, and then I show them how to shade with a pen.  The results always amaze them.  Pencil drawings done by kids are rarely done well because kids usually don't put enough contrast in their work.  I have only had one student in my years of teaching successfully create a good quality pencil drawing.  With pen, the contrast is automatic and the work looks sharp.

Middle School Art Exhibit

I am very fortunate to have an art gallery in my high school, unfortunately it is not used much as a gallery.  There is a system in my high school that allows teachers to use any of the facilities in our school as they see fit, kind of a first come first serve system.  The gallery has been used for a variety of things, it was once used for storage! I decided to take the gallery back and I have scheduled many activities this year.  It has kept me very busy but I hope the whole school will eventually keep their hands off the gallery. 
One activity I came up with this year was to host a middle school art exhibit.  I wrote letters and met with some middle school teachers around my area and invited them to exhibit. 
I also opened the art rooms and art lab and set up art work for a "tour" of our facilities.
I decided to make this a student led activity.  My students curated the whole thing, from hanging the work, judging and presenting the awards. 
We had a great turn out and I met some very talented young artists.  Perhaps they will be my students one day.
Enjoy your three day weekend.

The first day off for the holidays and it is pouring rain!  Darn, so much for my Christmas shopping, I guess I should do some cleaning and get some jewelry made for this week's sales.
Before I get to that I wanted to show you some of the work that was done by my kids.  The drawings above were created by my Art 2 students using oil pastels and tempera paint.    They measure 18" x 24" and took them a good two weeks to complete.  It was the perfect project right before the holidays.
Hmmmm, I think the rain is letting up, I just might be able to do some shopping today :)
Hope you are enjoying some time off as well.

My Art 2 kids just finished these simple stills using colored pencils.  I didn't want them to take too long on this project so I made sure they kept it simple.  They are now working on some tempera batik pieces which are more detailed and larger in scale. 

These contour faces are being created by my Adv. students.  I got this idea from my trip to TAEA.  I love going, I get so many great ideas. 

Hope you are doing well. Bye

Sorry it took me so long to post these pictures.  These are just a few of the scratchboard projects my art 1 kids finished a week ago.  I explained this process a bit in a previous post.  The kids really enjoyed this project and I enjoyed the results.

I spent a wonderful few days at Galveston, TX where the annual TAEA conference was held.  I went to several workshops where art educators shared their tried and true lessons.  There's nothing like surrounding yourself with "like minds" and seeing how other art programs from around the state differ from your own.  I always return rejuvinated and excited to teach.  I have so many ideas thanks to the conference.  This year an artisans market was held so art educators could sell their wares.  I decided to sell my jewelry.  I didn't think I would sell much since it was only for two and a half hours.  Boy, was I wrong!  I sold out in less time than that.  What I enjoyed most was meating all of the wonderful people that stopped by my table.
I posted pictures of the view from my window and a few shots that I took when I went out for some shopping.  If you are ever in Galveston you don't want to miss some of the wonderful antique shops.  I now have to write a power point presentation that I will be presenting tomorrow to area art educators based on "Creative Background Techniques".  After the great time I had I feel up to the challenge.  I hope you had a great weekend.

My Art 1 Students have finally completed their scratch art projects.  I decided to post this particular piece because I had the sense to take pictures through the development of this piece.  I first have the kids draw on paper, they then trace it onto poster board.  After they color the poster board they cover it with ink.  They retrace the drawing which allows them to see where the original drawing is.  I then have them look through a grid they created with different patterns.  They choose the patterns they like and scratch the patterns out on different sections of their drawings.
I'm very happy with the results and I believe the kids are too.
Hope you have a nice weekend.