City streets, 1st grade

This is a fun first grade combination of stamp printing with bubblewrap and toy cars, and layering with hand drawn vehicles.

Tulip fields of Holland in perspective

Recently I saw some amazing photos of tulip fields from a birds-eye view; they reminded me of a colorful quilt and it was amazing to think that they were actually fields of flowers. Holland is known as "the world's flower shop" because of its stunning variety of tulips which are harvested and shipped around the globe. We found many images on Google (thanks Carribean Living blog and Truus' blog) and we discussed the qualities of this point-of-view - no sky, no horizon, the sense of space was a little trickier to identify, although we still found some size and placement differences. 

Next we looked at some examples that show one-point perspective and based our drawings on the horizon line, vanishing point, converging line technique to show space in our landscapes. These beauties are perfect for our "wish it was spring" fever!

 

Winter weather, Spring plans

Here in metro Atlanta, we are in our second round of severe winter weather days - school is out and snuggling is in! I am one of those people that wants to hibernate if the temp drops below 50 degrees - but I've had enough hibernating at this point and am now getting excited about planning my spring projects!

We make several varieties of clay containers in the spring and I have been wanting to, for several years now, get some plants in those pots before they go home. I decided to do a sampling of succulent cuttings, as they don't need water more than once a week, and also because they are just so beautiful. So... I ordered a set of cuttings from Etsy and they came in the mail, just perfect and adorable - see here!

 

I also bought a seed packet of sedum to start, but I am going to let the kids plant those seeds after we get past this winter stuff.

In a stroke of luck that reassured me I was on the right path, I had happened upon two bags of cactus soil on major markdown at Target the week before - what luck, and they just happened to be in a random area where I was shopping. I just LOVE Target clearance.

Next, I had a variety of ceramic pots, but no holes in the bottoms, so luckily I had some plastic cups and tubs saved that were perfect to poke a drainage hole in and pop into my ceramic pots.

So here they are, so cute and hopefully they will thrive so that I can use this method with my students. Rooting the cuttings seems easy - just use the right soil, water it, place the cutting on top, water again weekly, and give them plenty of light. Fingers crossed!

Sadly, my 3 month old puppy Peanut got a hold of this one already - RIP

I am also preparing for upcoming stitchery projects, which everybody loves! I brought home a bunch of embroidery hoops and fabric to load this week, so there's that to look forward to.

The dogs follow me around, so they decided to start eating breakfast as I started my project. This is Peanut the Barefoot Contessa and Daisy - Dexter is still snoozing.

I also want to say a great big (and slightly belated - the snow slowed me down!) THANK YOU to all the families, friends, and colleagues who took the time to vote and say nice things about this blog in the Art Ed Blog of the Year contest - I am proud to announce we placed 6th among some amazing blogs and it is the third year to be in the top 10! I feel very honored, and lucky to be a part of this group of art educators.