Stephanie 
During Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15), I love to introduce to my students to the celebration of the Day of the Day (Dia de los Muertos). Through an investigation of the meaning, history, and culture of this traditional celebration of Mexico my students really grow an appreciation for Mexican art in the process. Many … Read more
For years, I’ve been on the hunt for an inexpensive yet effective tool to create texture in art projects. We were recently remodeling our house and I was watching as my husband using a caulking gun on our new baseboards. I started asking him a thousand questions like how do you use that thing?…. how … Read more
A tradition in many art classrooms across the globe is painting drop ceiling tiles to bring some color into the classroom and repurpose a panel into art. Additionally, it allows students an opportunity to leave their legacy on the art room for years to come. If you are interested in learning more about how to … Read more
Welcome! Drawing a vortex is a great skill building activity for artists. This blog post features step by step drawing guides to draw 3 different looking vortexes, video tutorials and a FREE guided worksheet for artists to use. **Hey, teachers!** If you’re interested in this full lesson with a slideshow presentation, grading rubric, and more, … Read more
A really fun thing to explore with perspective drawing is points of view. Artists can draw from the viewpoint of a human, a bird looking down or a worm looking up to capture visual interest and add drama to their work. This blog post will explore how to draw 3 different points of view using … Read more
Looking to build your skills with colored pencils? This activity will help you develop skills in layering and burnishing your colored pencils to create a super realistic paint blob with defined shadows and highlights. This blog post features tips, a video tutorial, step by step photos, and 70 royalty-free paint blob photographs in a variety … Read more
Looking for a fun digital drawing challenge? Take the character-in-a-photo challenge! How to do the challenge? It’s easy, simple and fun… Choose your photo from the choices below (behind the fence, swimming pool, or lily pad) Download the photograph from the link below. Import the photograph as a layer into a digital drawing canvas. Digitally … Read more
Have you ever struggled to draw something in your art composition where the object was pointed directly at the viewer? This is a common struggle and requires the use of a perspective technique called foreshortening. While foreshortening can be quite tricky, with practice it gets easier and more intuitive. This blog post features information, a … Read more
My first experience with gesture sketching wasn’t until my college figure drawing class. By drawing hundreds of quick gesture sketches of the models, I quickly saw an improvement in my observation skills as an artist and my ability to draw the human body in variety of movements. I wish I would have started exploring figure … Read more
Looking for some FREE and FUN web-based art making websites that you can incorporate into your art curriculum? Below is a list of some cool programs that involve a variety of art techniques and that come recommended by me for their ease of use, quality and creativity! Enjoy! Gartic.io Gartic is like a digital, interactive … Read more