The Highwaymen

5th grade learned about the Highwaymen, a group of artists in Florida during the 1950s who sold their artwork by the highways. Their oil paintings of landscapes are very popular now and can be found all over the country. I learned about the highwaymen during Art Scouts last summer from amazing art teacher Jennifer Alvarado and I was excited to share their art with my students.

Original work by Highwaymen artist.

We started by viewing their works and identifying foreground, middle ground, and background. Then we sketched out our landscapes.

We added color with chalk pastels, working in "cloudy" shapes, then blending with liquid starch. I love this beautiful, painterly look they got! Gorgeous!

Look at that depth! 

Tar Beach Collage

2nd grade viewed Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold. We drew and painted a cityscape inspired by the city skylines in her work. Then we attached the painting to a larger paper. After that, we added squares of fabric and patterned papers. They are awesome!

Andy Warhol's Cats

3rd grade loved learning about Andy's cats and exploring his early illustrations. This was a simple lesson. I found a few "How to Draw Cats" pages online. You can find links to the How-To's under each cat image. 

Original by Andy Warhol

We drew all 3 together, then they picked their favorite to finish. We traced with sharpie and added watercolor paints. 

Very easy, super cute, and a great opportunity to wear my many-colored cats dress! 

The names you see are what they named their cats, like Andy signed "Sam's" name to his cat drawings. 

How to draw this sitting cat from Art Projects for Kids. 

How to draw this laying down cat from ArtsyCraftyMom.