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Author Archives: Marcia Beckett

About Marcia Beckett

Marcia is an elementary art teacher and loves painting, drawing, sculpture, art journaling and clay. Her blog, Art is Basic, features many exciting art projects for kids.

Inside Out Pictures

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Hands arranging green paper cutouts on a black sheet atop a wooden table.

  @font-face { font-family: “Cambria”; }@font-face { font-family: “Chalkduster”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Inside Out Pictures The Primaries learned about positive and negative space.  They exercised their cutting skills and spatial awareness. Step One:  Cut out shapes from a 4.5″ x 9″ colored piece of paper. Step Two:  Take all of the shapes and try to put them back together like a puzzle. Putting the … Read more… →

Oil Pastel Landscapes– 2nd grade

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Oil pastel landscape drawing with red mountains, a blue river, green grass, trees, and a small brown hut. Ideal for 2nd grade art projects.

@font-face { font-family: “Times”; }@font-face { font-family: “Cambria”; }@font-face { font-family: “Adobe Caslon Pro SmBd Italic”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Oil Pastel Landscapes By the Upper Primaries This project focused on learning about foreground, middle ground, background, shadows, and color mixing.  The students learned simple depth techniques.  The Upper Primaries used oil pastels to draw a tropical landscape.  They learned how to mix and blend … Read more… →

Kindergarten Flowers in a Vase

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A child's drawing of flowers in a vase with green stems. The flowers have colorful petals, capturing a charming kindergarten art style.

@font-face { font-family: “Cambria”; }@font-face { font-family: “Adobe Caslon Pro SmBd Italic”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Kindergarten Flowers in a Vase These observational drawings were created with watercolor pencils.  Water was added to blend the colors to make a watercolor effect.

Stylish Blogger Award

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Pink circle with "Stylish Blogger Award" written in bold, white cursive text.

Thanks to Laura from http://paintedpaperintheartroom.blogspot.com and Mrs. Hahn from http://minimatisse.blogspot.com  for the Stylish Blogger Award.  Both of these blogs I LOVE to read and both of these ladies are wonderful art teachers.  The recent ATC trade I did was with the mini matisses!  🙂  Stylish Blogger Award Here are the request of the game. 1. Link back tot he person who awarded you. 2. List 7 things about yourself. 3. Pass the award along to 5 other blogs that you … Read more… →

Giant Weaving

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Two people working at desks in a cluttered room with materials and papers stacked around, and fabric for weaving hanging on the wall.

  We finished the giant weaving.  I had kids in all different classes work on it when they were done with their projects.  I like how it came out.  We are going to make a few more and then they are going to be hung in this large window well that is inside the school. 

Artist Trading Cards

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Multiple colorful drawings of snowmen arranged on a table, showcasing various artistic styles and decorations, resembling a collection of Artist Trading Cards.

My 5th/6th graders made these artist trading cards using the African Adinkra carved stamps they made.  Each kid made one or two cards and decorated them with markers.  We are sending them to a school in Minnesota, art teacher Nicole Hahn.  These are the amazing artist trading cards we have already received!!  I love the shading and coloring on the snowmen prints.  The kids are going to be so excited.  🙂  Thanks Nicole!!

Art puzzle

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Hands assembling an art puzzle with colorful pieces on a gray table.

   Here’s a fun little way to get kids excited and looking at an artwork closely.  I printed out small copies of a picture I was introducing to them and then laminated these.  Next, I cut them into little pieces and placed them in envelopes.  Each kid (or pair of kids) got an envelope and had to try putting the picture together as neatly as possible.  If they finished, they put it back in the envelope and switched with another … Read more… →

Collage Suggestion

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A vibrant collage showcasing various butterfly illustrations and mixed media materials.

One fun thing to try is to photocopy your artwork in black and white and then cut and paste pieces of it onto a collage.  Use paints on top to embellish it. Stage 1: Stage Two:   During the next stage, I am going to lay translucent paper on top and then print out a photo on painted paper as a final layer.  Hopefully that will tie everything together.

Work from my own little studio

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Colorful, abstract painting with vibrant circular patterns on a green background with black dots, created in a cozy little studio.

 The background is painted with watercolor paints.  I cut out circles from magazines and from photocopies of my own artwork.  Then I glued them to the paper and doodled around them and on top of them with Prismacolor Markers and Paint Markers.  The background is map-like with the blue and green (water and land).  I was reading a book called “You are Here:  Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination”   which intrigued me. 

Carved Stamps– 5th/6th grade

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Abstract painting with black flower patterns on a background of alternating pink and purple squares, using carved stamps for unique texture.

My 5th and 6th grade class carved stamps from E-Z Cut and then we printed them many times.  They looked at African Adinkra stamps and then used those designs for inspiration.  We printed them on artist trading cards, a design on paper and then on two large group artworks.  The ones pictured here are our large group artworks.  We are going to put this artwork in the school raffle fundraiser at the end of the year.  I’m also going to … Read more… →

  • Banner with colorful artwork promoting an art shop featuring kindness coloring pages, artist activities, and resources for teachers.