Term 3 session 8

The children worked hard all day colouring their composition with pastel. That sounds easy and not hard work... However, the thinking and planning that went on was ‘brain hurting’. Not only did the children have to colour each bird, they had to blend colours in the birds that went together. After colouring all the birds they next considered the background colour that would enhance the bird. The discussion about complimentary colours was a lively one as that knowledge took on a new meaning.

The children all made a colour chart (A4 white paper - around the outside a square of the each pastel colour was laid). They were able to put the colour chart next to each bird to find the complimentary colours. It did take some children to little while to understand the concept of making the colours work against each other to make the birds stand out. Some put very similar colours together and soon realised their picture was muted. Decisions and problem solving all day!

One tip: I found it very important to reapply the chalk lines around the birds and dividing lines before the background was coloured. This reminded the children not to colour right up to the birds as we want a black (dye) dividing line between.
Next week the final reveal...

Term 3 session 7

Today we finished the abstract paintings. While drawing their images, the children used the knowledge they have gained over the past weeks by looking the negative shapes around the images they were replicating to ensure the lines were correct. It is amazing how more accurate the drawings become by using this method.
It is also very satisfying watching the children make their own decisions and experiment with different media to achieve quality artworks.

Continuation of the bird compositions
The children were given a choice of media to complete their composition. They decided on pastel and black dye. For many of them, they had not learned how to use pastel correctly or how to draw in chalk to hold the place for the dye.

The children prepared their plan (process on previous blog) and draw their images onto brown craft paper (A2) with chalk. The brown craft paper has a tooth (rough side) that holds the pastel.

Because the children have been copying line drawings they have to research the birds used, making sure they know the name, habitat and colour of the plumage.

Next step apply the pastel. This has to be thickly applied with no gaps showing the paper. They have to be careful not to apply the pastel to the chalk lines. Once the pastel is applied to the paper dye will not penetrate, so if they accidentally pastel over the chalk line the black dye will not have the same impact.

Blending of pastels and tonal changes create interest within each image. I discourage the use of straight colour to areas larger than a fist. Scratching a pattern into the thick pastel is also effective. Textures can be created by stroke marks or circular movement of the pastel. To keep the colours clean the pastel ends must be kept clean. I tell the children the pastels like having their ‘nose blown’ with a tissue. Keep plenty of tissues available.
The foreground images are being coloured first then we will look at the background colours. That will be a discussion about complimentary colours and the colour wheel.

Term 3 session 6

Warm up today was drawing the negative shape around a chair. This is a much harder concept than drawing around a single object. The chair has angles, shapes and lines to consider.
I showed the children how to find the angle of a line by holding the pencil at arms length, closing one eye and lining the pencil up with the focus line on the chair. By putting the pencil straight down on the paper without changing the angle it gives a pretty close line.

It is amazing when the children look at and draw the chair they do not get the perspective (all four legs are the same size), but by concentrating on the negative shapes the perspective is naturally drawn.
This photo shows the two modes of drawing by the same child.

Next up we revisited the abstract paintings started last week. The children are drawing birds on the abstract background with indian ink. Today we were looking at different ways to highlight their drawings. Several different examples show the initiative children took.
One: using white crayon very heavily then scratching patterns in it
Two: using different coloured paint for the lines.
Three: blocking in the whole shape with thin white paint and reapplying the indian ink outline..

We have started planning our next composition by using geometric shapes and bird images.
So far the process has been:
draw a variety of bird images on single pieces of paper, vary the size of images
cut the images out
place the cut out birds on A2 paper
form geometric shapes around the bird shapes - birds can extend into another shape
move the images around until a balanced composition is achieved - when correct glue into place
This process completes the plan... next week we will transfer the plan onto heavy paper.