A {Second} Peek into My {Second} Art Room

First day of school.

Two sweet things I heard today:

1. First grade boy: 'Mrs. Mitchell, you are the best.'

2. Kindergarten girl: "Um, can I tell you sumpthin? You have....beautiful hair."

Heart meltingly sweet!!!

I totally rocked my LoveTaza headband today!! To see pictures from my other art room, click here.

 My aprons are all hung on the papercase with care. In hopes that the art teacher, might soon be ready to wear.

 I just can't bear to take down my Carol, from the Wear the Wild Things Are Unit from last year....I want to make more of these black electrical tape installation with other book characters, he makes me so happy!

 A work friend gave me that awesome huge spiral poster!! I can't bear to take it down!

 The beaded corner in the corner has Mona Lisa on it....my only window is glass blocks that open to a hallway...I figure I might as well have Mona hanging back there. I am addicted to these paper lanterns. Sorry for the low-quality images. I am typing this up before bed and I wanted them to load faster....Maybe that was a bad idea?

 In the classroom is wear I spend most of my days.

 The elements of art hang above my markerboard and the principles of art hang at the back of the room. They are attached to the wall with that foam tape...I never take them down!

I learned how to make the styrofoam 3-D blocks in college.

Super easy.

If you are interested in making your own 3-D foam blocks, they are great for all sorts of things!!

Follow these instructions and email me if you have any questions:

1. Basically you just cut the foam using a handsaw into a shape that you like.

2. Using regular white Elmer's glue, you 'draw' your lettering, lines, designs....whatever you want to STAY RAISED UP....if that makes sense.

3. Let the white glue dry.

4. Heat the foam with a torch. (Do this step outside...I wear a mask. I use a little propane torch from Home Depot.)

5. The torch melts away all of the foam except for where the dried white glue is....it creates a really cool relief effect.

6. Paint the foam. I used cheapy school tempera paint! I painted all of the raised up areas white and all of the edges and sunken areas with a solid color so the relief would be more prominent.

A few years ago, I fell in love with a paint set in a Pottery Barn Kids catalog. I wanted it so bad, but it was really too expensive for my classroom decoration budget...I found these long white scraps of foam in the trash and created my own watercolor strip with the torch technique. I just need to buy the huge paint brush (or make one) to hang above it. The foam is super light so it will stay up on the concrete walls.

Anyway, I am super glad the first day is over.

The anticipation of the first day must be similar to jumping out of an airplane (I wouldn't know, I can only imagine)....all the anxiety, fear, anticipation...and then all goes well, the chute opens and you float down to earth and go on living your day-to-day life.

Today I jumped, floated and tomorrow I go on living, teaching and taking each day as it comes.