Nearly finished Painting

Painting is nearly completed. After blocking in the colours on each prop the students have gone back over each part of the painting adding in patterns and details.

After everything had been blocked with colour most of the students thought their paintings were finished. We re-looked at Henri Matisse (our focus artist) and discussed how he used patterns, shapes, line and colour. Before they started the patterns on the painting, they revisited their plans and drew the patterns on the objects, when confident they painted. This process has taken two days. Yes, I know it is a lot of time. However, the quality of the artworks speak for themselves and for the perseverance of the children.

GOOD ARTWORKS TAKE TIME. A benefit of giving time is the children get on a flow, they become absorbed in their work spending long periods of time concentrating, even the children who traditionally have a very limited concentration span.
All the children are now assessing their own paintings, looking for parts that don’t look right or need more work. I am delighted with this development because it shows the children have become confident decision makers, problem solvers and independent thinkers in relation to their artwork.

It was interesting listening the the comments when we looked at several pieces of art. The children talked about the patterns used, the colour variations, the shape of objects and how things worked well together. It was a real buzz for the children who’s art we discussed.

Initial Lesson- study Henri Matisse and telling stories through pictures

To begin with I got the children to draw things they considered patterns. This was an interesting exercise as several children have ‘leaked’ that knowledge over the holidays.

We analyses some paintings of Henri Matisse, picking out the patterns he uses. The children then went around the school taking photos of all the patterns they could find in the environment.

We viewed all the images on overhead projector then the children had to practice drawing patterns on A3 paper. After this exercise the children were put into groups of 3-4, given an A2 cartridge paper and had to draw their patterns in permanent markers. The task was to cover the paper in patterns. This task completed we then looked at the colours Matisse used.

We discussed primary and secondary colours, and what makes complimentary colours and what effect they have on each other.

The task (still in process) is to paint the patterns using complimentary colours for each pattern and the background.

It was amazing to see the problem solving, decision making, the communication within the group. This kind of collaborative work helps children to take risks with their artwork, they appear to be more confident.