A good friend and an idea from Pinterest

My friend, Brenda Glass, has been coming to our class once every 6 weeks to do an art project with my students. I love this because I don't really have the time (or energy) to plan elaborate art projects. She usually reads a book and then we do an art project. Some of the ideas have come from Pinterest. This site is the perfect place for teachers to share ideas and to get ideas for new exciting projects for their classroom!

She read Do You Have a Hat? and we made these cute face pictures and added a hat

She read Owl Moon and we made torn paper owls

At Christmas we made these cute reindeer and added the students' pictures

Our latest project came straight from an idea off Pinterest that seems to have gone viral in the past few months: Georgia O'Keeffe-inspired watercolor flowers. I first saw the idea on Pinterest and emailed Brenda the link. She took the idea and ran with it. She prepared a really nice powerpoint with artwork and quotes by Georgia O'Keeffe and then showed the photos of the step-by-step instructions found on The Art of Education. My favorite quote that she kept using throughout the lesson is: “To create one's  own world takes courage.”  She used the words to encourage the students to think big and go off the page with their flowers. Many of my more timid students found their "voice" with this project. I never dreamed that they would turn out so beautiful!

First, we did a pencil outline and then traced it with permanent black marker.

We used real flowers to study the details and inspire us.

Next, we traced the permanent marker lines with colored washable markers.

Finally, we filled in the whole thing with watercolors. 

The students loved doing this project and were so inspired and creative!

Thank you Brenda and Pinterest! I couldn't have (wouldn't have) done it with out you!