Sleepyhead Designs Studio

Paint + Collage Process-Let's Paint Friday

2012-02-24T08:33:00.000-06:00

Here's a quick peek at how to do collage artwork like the Pig pictured above. This acrylic mixed media piece was done by one of my adult students, Dianna Huchingson, who is very talented, much more so than she gives herself credit. She did this piece in about 2 hours and used scrapbook paper, gloss medium, acrylic paint on a canvas panel. She started out using a pig picture similar to

Abstract Painting Lesson Idea

2012-02-18T00:00:00.000-06:00

Let's Paint Using a piece of 10 x 8 tracing paper, students created used shapes and lines to create an abstract design. Then they transferred their image on the both sides of a 20 x 16 canvas to create a symmetrical design. These were painted on a stretched canvas with acrylic paints.

Simple Color Theory Lesson

2012-02-14T00:00:00.000-06:00

Lesson Idea Here's a simple, but fun exercise I do with younger students to introduce color theory. Thought I'd post since the hearts are appropriate for Valentine's Day, however, you can choose any simple shape or object you'd like. I've also done these in the spring with diamond shapes and had the students make them into kites. You could also tie this lesson into learning about Jim Dine

Painting Abstract Hearts for Valentine Day

2012-02-10T00:00:00.000-06:00

Let's Paint! Thanks for joining me for my first "Let's Paint" post! Here's a fun painting idea perfect for Valentine's Day, and can even be tied to learning about artist Jim Dine. We used acrylic paints and a 12 x 12 stretched canvas. Painted in a loose abstract style, we used warm colors for the heart and cool colors for our background. We used a little gel medium to collage

Valentine Bookmarks from Canvas Fabric

2012-02-08T15:33:00.001-06:00

Get Crafty So, since Valentine’s day is coming up, I thought I’d show you an easy gift idea for friends and teachers. Here's an simple and inexpensive, yet unique and handmade idea created from cotton duck canvas fabric. Why canvas fabric? Well, it's sturdy and easy to paint on...and I had a bunch of scrap pieces at my house that I was needing to recycle! Cotton duck canvas is also

Marc Chagall Inspired Art

2012-02-02T13:53:00.000-06:00

I'm going through a ton of old pictures and trying to catch up on posting lessons. Here's a Marc Chagall inspired lesson. This lesson idea comes from The Incredible Art Department It was done with oil pastels. I've found that students get tired when they have to color in such large areas with oil pastels, and have to really be encouraged to finish it. Even though these turned

Am I a hoarder?

2012-01-25T22:10:00.003-06:00

So my husband has called me a hoarder; others have referred to me as a pack rat. But I just can't help it... I can't throw things away. I realize maybe it's gotten out of control when I can't throw away dried up paint. There's something about it-it's shiny on one side, stretchy and beautiful, pure color. So yes, I admit it, I peel them off the plates and palettes and keep them in a

Artistic Gifts

2012-01-03T19:49:00.003-06:00

I love getting hand made gifts, do you? I also love giving them, but never seems like I have enough time to create enough to give to everyone I want. I usually do a better job of posting my Christmas creations during the holidays, but this year I took a break from the computer so I could focus on more on my family. So... I hope you're not too tired of Christmas to read a quick post

A Thank You to my Top Referring Art Lesson Blogs

2011-12-27T13:30:00.002-06:00

I wanted to wrap up 2011 by thanking all the wonderful art blogs who not only inspire, challenge and help me, but send me new readers my way each day. Thanks so much to my top referring blog buddies! Here's my countdown (drum roll, please). Be sure to check out these great blogs if you haven't yet, or if it's been awhile: 6) Deep Space Sparkle Art Lessons for Kids. This blog has wonderful

Painting Christmas Trees

2011-12-02T17:38:00.001-06:00

Please follow me on Facebook! Just click on the follow me button in the right sidebar. I'd love to be your friend too! It's so simple to learn how to paint a beautiful Christmas tree. I did a mommy and me post a couple years ago, and we used the same technique here, just deleted the stencil part and drew a triangle for our tree. These are painted in acrylic paints on a 16 x 20 canvas.

Painting Lesson Using Texture

2011-11-26T16:18:00.000-06:00

Art Lessons with Texture are one some of my favorite to teach and create. They are always a big hit with the students; they are messy and a new experience for most. Here's a simple art lesson idea that combines texture and color to make great abstract art. I always use modeling paste, but it can be fairly expensive. Joint compound and paintable caulking will also work as a less

Painting Santas

2011-11-19T16:32:00.001-06:00

Time to get in the Christmas Spirit, right....... I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet. But I take the month of December off from teaching art, and blogging, so I can focus on my own kiddos, and create Christmas Crafts with them, like cookies, gingerbread houses, salt dough ornaments, etc. Here's some results from my first Santa painting workshop that I've ever done. These

Art and Children's Literature

2011-11-19T15:45:00.001-06:00

Some of my favorite books are the "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a..... Pie, Fly, etc..." series. They are so much fun! Here's a fun little enrichment art lesson I did with my daughter's first grade class. And let me just say how much I am amazed by you art teacher's out there who teach more than 7 kids at a time, like I normally do. I taught 19 kids for this lesson and I was worn out! I

O'Keeffe Inspired Acrylic Paintings

2011-11-15T10:50:00.000-06:00

Using Georgia O'Keeffe as our inspiration artist, my homeschool girls painted these beautiful flowers in acrylics on a 12 x 12 canvas. I printed off around 7 different photos from the internet and let them select which one they wanted to paint. They started off identifying the basic shapes, starting with the center and working their way out. They completed these in 1-1/2 hours.

Fall Foliage Landscapes

2011-11-09T16:38:00.000-06:00

I just love, love, love fall! The colors, the crisp temperatures, the smells....it makes me want to paint! I've taught several classes this fall on painting fall foliage. It's a great way to introduce landscapes, foreground, middle ground, background and horizon line. I also taught about the lighting and shadows. These were done in acrylic paint on a 16 x 20 canvas.

More Owls

2011-10-30T16:37:00.002-05:00

I did another round of owl workshops this week. Just thought I'd share my student's amazing art!

Painting Owls Folk Art Style

2011-10-20T19:47:00.001-05:00

This week, I've taught three different classes on painting owls folk art style, and I think by the last class, I finally figured out what worked best. Sometimes that's how it goes. I showed the students several different ways to draw owls, and then they got to design their own. We also brainstormed together as a class for different pattern ideas. I introduced "Folk Art" to

Expressing Yourself With Clay

2011-10-13T22:21:00.000-05:00

I looooove how this project turned out! I saw this idea on CreARTe with Graeme's Facebook's page and as soon as I did, I knew I had to try it. She is an art teacher at a local school and has photos of some really cute art lesson projects. In the past, I've always done Clay Faces, but this one has so much more personality! For this project we used a 9 x 12 canvas hard board, Crayola

Drawing and Painting Pumpkins

2011-10-08T09:14:00.003-05:00

Here's a fun fall project where you can introduce numerous concepts like; lines, shading, and warm/cool colors. First, I teach students how I draw a pumpkin. I always teach that before you paint to practice your drawing and plan your painting. And I love talking about painting fruits, and stress that there's not such thing as a "perfect" pumpkin. They can be fat, tall, bumpy, lop-sided, etc.

Book Review-Learn to be a Bubble Writer

2011-09-15T17:43:00.001-05:00

Laurence King Publishing asked if they could send me some art related books to review, and in turn I could keep the books for myself or use for a give away. I thought, Great Idea, I've always wanted to host a give-away. . . The books were delivered as promised. It was like Christmas... the kids were sooo excited and rushed to get their markers and crayons for these "awesome" books (their

Art by Stacy Spangler at Scallions Restaurant

2011-09-01T12:30:00.000-05:00

I'm forever thankful to Rachael Crosby at Scallions Restaurant here in Little Rock for allowing me to display my artwork for the first time ever! I was so nervous about asking, but I finally got up the nerve. I have 14 pieces on display, and the most wonderful part is that almost all of them have scripture in them somewhere! I'm praying that His Word will speak to all those that see!

Toucan Pastel Drawing

2011-08-26T06:03:00.001-05:00

Here students used soft chalk pastels to draw a toucan from a photograph. Students learned about basic drawing skills, blending pastels and different transfer techniques. Students used a pastel paper for this piece. The finished projects turned out great, however I'm afraid my photography doesn't do them justice.

Mono Printing

2011-08-19T21:59:00.001-05:00

Have you tried printing in your classroom? I've done several variations of this lesson, and it's always a challenge, but we usually have nice results. I've always used a scratch foam sheet designed for kids. It has a soft surface, almost like that of a foam meat tray. A pencil, end of a paint brush, or stick can be used to "cut" your design. The problem I usually see is getting the students

please excuse me

2011-08-17T19:12:00.002-05:00

Please excuse the mess while I update my blog-not sure how long this will take!