A Very Messy, But FUN Art Docent

I had the opportunity to present the Art Docent lesson for J's 2nd grade class this morning. We had to squeeze it all into 1 hour because the bell-schedule changed this week. We talked about Folk Artists and how they didn't have cameras back in the early 1800's. Many of these artists would spend all winter making canvases with blank faces and bodies to later fill in with detail when people would want their portrait painted. They were called 'limners'. They actually made a great living doing this! Today, the kids were going to do a project like the 'limners'. Even before I could give the portfolio lesson, the kids did a potato stamp with light brown paint. This became the blank face of their portrait. I gave the lesson while the paint dried. Now, the frustrating thing about this portfolio is that it only had 2 of the 8 pictures!!! Can you believe that!?? I mean, we didn't have that much time to go over them anyway, but it's the principle. Our school paid a lot of money for these kits and to be missing that many is just wrong. After our potato stamp heads dried, the kids colored in the people with oil pastels, then filled everything else in with watercolor washes. Yes, I put a few Starbursts in J's desk for him! I just can't resist. It's SO much easier to work with 20 students vs. 32 students. I just love seeing my boys' smiles when I arrive in their classrooms. It makes my day.