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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Sea (salt) Turtles

Please excuse the lack of posting in the past couple of weeks. I received some "not so nice" comments, which have since been removed, and kind of put me in a blogging funk. I guess you have to take the good with the bad when you put yourself out there, right?!

I saw these adorable Sea Turtles on Pinterest and wanted my fourth graders to do them for our Kids Art Fair project. It's basically a watercolor resist with some rock salt thrown in there for a cool effect in the background.
For this project we used Sax liquid watercolors and Morton's Ice Cream Salt. You can use table salt, too, but I wanted a little chunkier effect (and in case you're wondering, it isn't expensive. The salt was $1.55 for a large box of it and I put some in little cups on each table. We went through 1 1/2 boxes in 5 classes.)
For the designs on the shells, I taught the students how to connect hexagons to form the scoots. I then gave them 6 different color choices in which to color those scoots in, most analogous color schemes.
I do love the way they've turned out, and how the salt "sucks up" some of the moisture from the paint, as well as some of the color from the paint!
I hope to post more this week...but if not, have a wonderful Spring Break!

16 comments:

  1. People can be awful. Just remember there are many people out here who love you and your blog. And love these turtles!!!!!!!!!!!

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  2. I am sorry others were unkind. I love your turtles. I swam with the turtles in Maui this summer and enjoyed just watching them bob up and down for air. I am going to try the rock salt too!

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    1. oh gosh, how AWESOME! my son (he's 4) is obsessed with turtles. i mean OBSESSED. i will have to store this in the back of my head for when i make my millions and retire in hawaii. HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH!

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  3. LOVE the contrasting colors and the textured background. I always love seeing the varied effects of salt on watercolor.

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    1. thanks! it really is so much fun...and you can literally watch it change in front of your eyes.

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  4. I love them! The compositions and textures are great.

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  5. I'm sorry to hear that anyone would have anything unkind to say. I have recently had some difficult times in my personal life that have left me scattered as an art teacher. This post and the post with your son's dandelions (my own son is blond, 3, and loves visiting Mommy's classroom) are helping me greatly as I recenter and refocus. Thank you!

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    1. Thank you! I appreciate your feedback...warms my heart on this rainy spring day!

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  6. I love them! The compositions and textures are great.

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. i'm an art teacher at a deaf school and i came across your site by way of (you guessed it) pinterest. i wanted to take a moment and say that i'm impressed with what i'm seeing so far and i encourage you to keep doing what you're doing. you're doing a fabulous job.

    as a teacher i often find myself wanting to create a site to show what i'm doing in class. sometimes i feel like...nah, who has the time for that, really? but then i see sites like yours and i realize how much they help me as a teacher with ideas and inspiration. it kind of makes me think i should at least try and do my part to be of some help to whoever might come across my site. so thanks for doing this and...forget about whoever said anything negative about this blog!

    and yes, i realize i'm a teacher that doesn't capitalize properly. there's a reason i don't teach english. :)

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  9. Why would anyone say anything negative about your posts? You're amazing; your ideas are adorable, fun, and educational. Your blog is our first go to for new ideas when we're feeling lost or unsure about the success of a project. Thank you for all you do!

    P.S. We LOVE these turtles! So cute!

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  10. Shame on anyone who would spoil your sharing of such beautiful art. Let me balance that with a positive: I am an elementary music teacher but my principal asked me to get certified in art a couple of years ago. I am learning from lots of sources, but blogs such as yours help me out a lot! I know it is always ideal for a "real art teacher" to be the one teaching art, but I can't tell you how much fun I have had learning along with my students!

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  11. Fantastic project! Thanks fur sharing!

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