Snow and Valentines

Well last week we got snow! It was only for one day and it wasnt much but enough for schools to be cancelled. The next day some schools were still out because the snow melted and then the roads had ice. It was my birthday too. At least the weekend before I went to Saint Simons Island- my birthday gift to myself.
So now it's time to start preparing for Valentines Day and Black History month and Presidents Day. That's a lot for one month. My store has lessons for all three. One of my favorite lessons is the one about colonial art and the Limners who were really house painters. They also would paint portraits. They would take boards and paint bodies of people and children in various poses, all holding something. They would let the customer choose which pose he liked and paint the customers portrait on the body and also whatever personal object the customer would be holding.
Here's the link to the lesson:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Ye-Olde-Colonial-Portraits-a-cross-curricula-drawinghistory-lesson-422600

thanksgiving

Wow! I haven't blogged in awhile! So what's been going on with me? My grand children started a new school. We were hit by Hurricane Irma on September 11. My husband had back surgery already scheduled for the end of October so I had to help him clean up on the weekends and get the yard and any of his projects completed. Now we are in the recovery stage. I still have to help him because he cant bend. lift. or twist or drive a car or even ride in a car until December.
Our candle business has had some huge orders come in lately so that has also kept me away from blogging.
Thanksgiving and Fall art is one of my favorite times of the year. I like to introduce and study Native American art. The National Ocmulgee Indian Mounds is in my town. There is a lot of history here and over the years children have found scads of arrowheads.
A favorite lesson is my Easy Native American art lesson. It tells a bit about early Native American art  and can be taught as a review of geometric shapes.
Click on the following link to find the lesson:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Easy-Native-American-Art-Project-1545675

Have you heard the news?? It's Time for Teachers Pay Teachers Back to School Sale!!!

My store is 20% off and Tpt kicks in another 8%! 

www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Gena-Mcwilliams

What makes Art ART?

Why is Art Art?

What is the difference between GREAT ART and mediocre art?

I don’t really know. The phrase “I know it when I see it” makes art a perception but art is still art whether it is perceived as such by one or not. So then the idea of art becomes quite subjective depending on the viewer’s opinion or mood of the day.

For me really good art is that which has been drawn well and somewhat realistically but is then turned into an abstract or an impression or an abstract impression. I am a bit of a conservative in that I believe for artists to create really good art they have to be able to draw. I have told my students that drawing is the basis of all other art techniques.

My favorite artists who have demonstrated the ability to draw realistically and turn a painting or sculpture into an abstract, impression or abstract impression are Pablo Picasso and David Hockney. There is a video/DVD called “Behind the Scenes, Volume:1 Painting and Drawing” (available on Dick Blick’s website) during which David Hockney draws a chair from many different views while explaining perspective, depth, and vanishing point. I showed it many times to my middle school students. The result is a cubistic chair (Picasso’s influence).

Today I discovered a painting of David Hockney’s called “Gaugin’s Chair” that looks like the very chair that’s in the DVD. It’s a painting with bright tropical colors similar to those Gaugin used but drawn in a cubistic manner like Picasso. That thought process is what makes a great artist and great art to me!

                                                         That’s MY opinion! Mizz Mac