Tinting white grout with acrylics - sooo easy!

 I sooo want to use colored grout in the art room this year for the kids mosaic lesson - I'm usually  hooked on black...use it all the time and lament the fact that I lost all contrast with the tiles - so I tried tinting the grout with acrylic paint - AND IT WAS AWESOME!

 I used some premixed grout - put a 'smidge' of acrylic and mixed with a paintbrush -
used the paintbrush to 'sniggle' it (all technical artist terms) in the nooks and crannies
TIP : the paint thins the grout so the set up time is a bit longer
the grout needs to 'rest' for a bit longer - so 10 minutes or so
then you can do the first wipe off of the colored grout with a super dry sponge - always use a clean part of sponge or you'll just smudge the grout instead of removing it -and clean your sponge A LOT in-between!  then let it 'rest' again - 15 minutes - then polish each tile....

student references in the art room

i find the most bestest organization ideas on pinterest - i've used many and have a zillion on my pinterest board - teach art -for elements and principles. found these great examples here:

one of my mantras in class is "use your resources!" so what i will say as a prompt is something like "where in the room can you find an example of_____ or a definition of_______ ". great support and habit foryoung artists to access for themselves information around the room.

 when studying any style or artist i will put examples up - for landscapes or still life or abstract - you get the idea - as artists it is great to have a starting point - any example - in pointalism or fauvism or cubism - seeing the art helps us create the style!

 yes i painted a color wheel - at the beginning of the year i did a huge color theory series - and i found my young artists had difficulty with warm and cool - complimentary etc.

i labeled the colors 1,2,3 - primary, secondary, tertiary. and guess what? 1+1 = 2 ) primary + primary = secondary - cool huh!

we also use it for sorting games for the littles and my older artists reference the table wheel often! do it and see! or better yet - have the kiddos do it!  

after we study an artists - i put the artists on the artist wall - and organize information by a picture - birth/death - iconic examples and then supportive literacy format by listing facts with 'main idea' and 'details' labels. works like a charm and artists reference this whenever i am referencing a style or artist.