Category Archives: Uncategorized

We all know pinterest is addicting!  Well, those of us who are on it. Today I was reading a magazine and saw a cool picture of a robot made from tin cans and the first thing I thought was “pin it”.  Then I realized I could just cut out the picture.  a recent “pin”

    So, in one of my previous posts, I talked about making string balls.  All you need to do is blow up a balloon, dip yarn in glue and wrap the balloon.  When it dries, pop the balloon and take out the deflated balloon.  Easy, right?   I started making the string balls with a few classes last week.  It was definitely a comedy of errors.  This was not an easy, low stress project.  First, we blew up the balloons … Read more… →

The 3rd/4th grade classes thought about what art means to them.  We also read the book Art Is, by Bob Raczka.  They made a poster that used a slogan about what art can be.

My 5/6 classes just started reviewing the elements of art.  We watched a short video online about the elements and then we started a drawing exercise. 1.  Divide the paper into 4 sections. 2.  Start with line. Draw as many types of lines as you can think of.  Wavy, zigzag, dotted, dashed, straight, bumpy, etc.   2.  Shapes– Draw geometric shapes and organic shapes. 3.   Now, in another section, draw forms.   4.  In the last section,  show colors.  … Read more… →

I have this cool idea to make a mobile out of string balls.  It’s a project where you blow up a balloon, dip strings in glue and place around the balloon.  When the glue dries, you pop the balloon and take it off.  Here are 2 that I made.  The kids are going to make these next week.

I’m on Pinterest too…. I know a lot of my art teacher friends have joined recently.   I don’t think of it as one more thing online to keep up with, but just to browse through whenever I get bored!  It’s a good way to see lots of inspirational photos. Find me:   http://pinterest.com/marciabeckett/pins/ Here’s some fun photos from pinterest.  

Part 2 of my Giveways starts now!  I am cleaning out my book shelves.  Several of the books I have are duplicates from my home collection with the ones my school has.  Since I have reached 200 followers, I want to thank the people that read and respond to my posts and contribute awesome blog posts in return.  Even if you have never commented before, now is your chance.  If you would like a chance to win this book, I … Read more… →

I changed the look of my home page on this blog and changed the title to “Art is Basic”… the url will remain the same, because I figure I don’t want to change that and have people be confused.   I also updated my school’s art page.  I changed the whole look of it and deleted all the old posts from last year, so it’s ready for a fresh new start. You can see that here: What do you all have … Read more… →

I did a random number generator, and GirlChris3 was the winner.  Yay!  Send me your address and I will send you the book.    Another giveaway will go up soon.

Last day to comment on this giveaway post for a chance to win an art teacher book! greeting card I’ve been working on

Here is a an OLD lesson that I taught about 6 years ago at my previous school.   I think these turned out lovely.  These chalk drawings were inspired by the Pueblo dwellings of the Native Americans. We read about the lives and homes of these people and then drew a picture of some homes inspired by the style of their dwellings.  We used a chalk stencil method to make the background… similar to this technique, but we cut out the … Read more… →

The full collage/doodle Seth Apter is hosting a Buried Treasure blog hop.  Each participant reposts a really cool blog entry that they had posted a while back, that may have been buried after some time, a hidden gem of sorts.  This is my entry, which I had posted a while back at my other blog.  You can see all of the other hidden gems at his blog.   I was into some insane doodling here…. lots of watercolor paint, markers, … Read more… →

I’m having a series of giveaways because I have reached 200 followers.  The first giveaway will be for this book: MULTICULTURAL ART ACTIVITIES FROM THE CULTURES OF AFRICA, ASIA AND NORTH AMERICA (GRADES 2-5) All you have to do is leave a comment here and I randomly pick from the people who commented.  You have until next week Wednesday to leave a comment.   I have so many art books, and many are duplicates of ones that I have at … Read more… →

Blog land has been pretty quiet over the summer.  I assume most of the teachers are off enjoying a relaxing summer.  If I get 3 more followers, I will reach 200!  When I hit 200 followers, I am going to have a blog giveaway for a fun art book.  Be on the lookout for a giveaway soon.  Here is a mixed media collage I just finished.  Summer is the perfect time to catch up on your own art making.  What … Read more… →