Autumn is here! Let's celebrate!

We finally finished both of our autumn themed projects and they are magical!
The kids added their fall leaves to their paintings of the wind today and they turned out absolutely spectacular. They will be hanging outside Poohville and Bearville classrooms later this week. Stop by and check them out if you can!

We also finished our autumn trees by designing and decorating frames for them. These pieces are gracing the main hallway at school today! 

Fall Trees Continued ... (will fall ever arrive?)

Today's art class was full of fun. We continued work on both of our fall inspired projects.

We worked on finishing up our autumn tree project but cutting out the leaves the kids painted with watercolors last week. They then added them to their pictures as they saw fit. It was a pleasure to watch the kids as they worked through the project. Talking together they discovered the magic of fall leaves... that they are part of a "falling" process: from branch to air to earth. Leaves were added to the trees branches, falling through the air, and resting gently on the ground. These pieces are stunning and will be hanging in the main hall at MMS by the end of the week.

 

We also worked on the second half of our "leaf print" project. (Remember these from last week?) The kids cut out their leaves and were great sports about it. That much cutting with those tiny scissors is hard for little hands!

When finished, we worked on "painting an autumn wind". We began by drawing the wind with white oil pastel. We talked about the feeling of the wind. How it can swirl and dance, or blow strong and straight. Drawing with white oil pastel on white paper can seem kind of pointless ("I don't see anything!") but we stuck with it.

Next we got out the watercolors. Everyone had a chance to think for a moment about what they thought the "color of the wind" might be. As you can see below, everyone had different ideas. As they added the watercolors, the white oil pastel shone through. Quite a delightful surprise! Next week we'll add our fall leaf prints to these.

Autumn Leaf Print

Today we worked on some autumn leaf prints!

Using fallen maple leaves as our printing plates, we painted the back sides of the leaves with yellow, orange or red paint. We then pressed the leaves onto black construction paper. When the leaves were pulled up they left a print!

It was a messy project. All the kids did wear smocks. Luckily, I do have a few spare child sized aprons for the kids who have not yet brought in a t-shirt from home. That being said, if you have not yet sent in an adult size t-shirt for your child, please do so! They work SO much better at keeping the kids clean. 

Each child did 2 sets of prints. They did a practice piece first and then a final piece. I have arranged them below for you to see. The pieces on the left were the first attempt, on the right were the second attempts. Big improvements can be seen with the practice. The kids also had the fun of combining the colors to create their own patterns on the leaves as they moved on to their second pieces.

 Next week we will color the backgrounds of these pieces. And finish up last weeks project on autumn trees.

You may have heard from your child that we work in sketchbooks for the final few minutes of art class when we have a chance. We had about 10 minutes for sketchbooks today and it was an absolute pleasure to watch the kids work. Sketchbooks are meant as safe spaces for the kids to explore their creative ideas. They did wonderful and varied work today and seemed to be quite inspired by witnessing what their fellow classmates were creating. Here are a few gems from the sketchbooks.

If you have a chance, stop by school and check out the kids lion pieces. They are framed and hanging in the halls outside of the Bearville and Poohville classrooms!