Art Teacher Still Life (Clean Up Beauty)

 I guess I see beauty in most things. Even clean up. We spend time at the end of Art Club with everyone helping clean up, but I do a second round at home with brushes and supplies that might be wrecked if not cleaned completely. (Let's just say a first-grader's idea of clean might not be the same as mine…)

These are some thrifted cookie cutters (Value Village) we used to add a printed layer to this year's freestyle painting we did on cardboard. (Here are some older examples. We use up the paint on our pallets after painting our annual paper mache- so much fun to paint just for the joy of painting!)

Yes, I lined up the paint-stained sponge bits on the stripes of the towel to dry. Like houses on little lots and parallel roads.

 I cut open the tube acrylics to scrape out every last bit of paint. I put warm colors in one squeeze bottle, cool in another, Black and white together because the white on a kid's pallet always has some color mixed in. We'll use the mixed paints on future projects where the marbling of colors is a plus.

 I don't save the dried bits from the lids, but I couldn't just throw them away without a photo.  Or two.

I remind my students all the time to see like an artist. Look for line, shape, space, texture, color, form, and value. Pattern and repetition. Light and shadow and contrast and all that. The world (even clean up!) is full of visual treasures we don't want to miss.

Make it a Wonderful Day!