Even though by the end of the year my art room is  overflowing with painted paper scraps, I couldn’t resist using up my stashes of mixed paints to create this... Learn More

Lois Ehlert’s book, Snowballs, is yet another inspiring book for elementary school art lessons. Instead of the featured snowmen, I gravitated towards the wonderful winter bird in birch trees. I... Learn More

This just might be the most adorable owl painting ever. Inspired by 4Catslife’s owl painting I saw on Pinterest, I took no shame in trying to copy the piece as... Learn More

Artist James Rizzi has been providing my art students with fabulous inspiration this Fall. After finishing another James Rizzi art lesson before class was over, some students continued on the... Learn More

Is there anything more adorable than watching little kids paint? Only if it’s watercolor paint! The brushes might be the smallest these five-year-olds have ever worked with and I sense... Learn More

It’s no secret that I love owls. Kids do, too. For this owl art lesson, I gave my sixth grade students a few “owl” options: a realistic owl, a whimsical... Learn More

Chalk pastels give the dramatic color intensity of tempera or acrylic paint with almost no prep time. Chalk gets a bad rap as being too messy. For the little ones,... Learn More

My second-grade students completed these simple oil pastel resist birds in one 45-minute class. It’s a pretty simple lesson… no-fuss bird drawing using oil pastel then paint with liquid watercolors.... Learn More

Tropical Birds are a wonderful way to teach a variety of lessons: color wheel basics, color mixing, drawing techniques. Parrots are an art room staple. They are easy to draw and... Learn More