Term 3 session 1

Before starting any teaching I had the children draw three picture: a self portrait (using a mirror), a picture of their favourite person (it was amazing how this image resembled the self portrait) and a drawing of their hand. These drawing will be our benchmark later in the term. The drawings also gave an indication on the ability and confidence of the children.

I introduced the students to copying line drawing upside down (that is the line drawing was upside down not the students).
My whole objective is to get the students looking at, and copying the lines. The skills used in this exercise develop spatial awareness. Estimating how long the lines are, how big the are lines, the angle they go, how wide apart they are and where they join each other. The students are then looking very carefully and seeing detail they have never noticed before. To carry on the theme of observation the next activity turned out very abstract.

The children taped white paper to the desk (to prevent moving), with one hand (holding pencil) on the paper they turned away and looked carefully at their other hand. Without looking at the paper they drew the lines on their hand. It did not matter if they were not connected or lost their way, they just started again. The whole objective was to follow the lines with their eyes and transfer that information to their hand. We photocopied the image enlarging in the process. The children then colours the shapes and spaces formed by the lines. This way fun and reduced the stress of drawing realistically.

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.

Beginning to paint composition

The children drew their pictures onto the undercoated cardboard with chalk, copying them from their pre-drawn plan. Chalk is used because it can be easily rubbed off the undercoat if the image is not right. It is important to get the image large and bold; use lines only, no colouring in.

After the chalking had been completed the children painted over the chalk lines with thin blue paint and very thin brush (#0 or #1). This makes the image more permanent when applying the top coats of paint. I use blue and not black because I have found black paint permeates through the other colours after they have been applied. I was delighted to see the children enlarged their images to fit the A2 size cardboard. Certainly modeling and talking through the process helped them understand what was required.

Before starting to apply the colours the children had to colour in the part of their planning picture that was farthest in the background. This was a revelation to them as they began to understand background and moving forward to the foreground. In many cases the background was the sky or walls in the composition was done indoors. Some children found they had not included a horizon line and yet others did the typical putting a sky line at the very top of the picture. We had a great discussion about how the sky meets the earth. By colouring the plan many of the problems faced in colouring the composition have been recognised and solved before painting.

The work continues...

Planning our painting

Today we looked at how painting tell stories. We discussed Glenda Randerson’s painting of her daughter. It did not take long for the children to talk about the girl and her likes and activities. The children had to say what they thought was happening and what props. colours or actions gave them the clues.

Next we discussed:
- the things we like doing
- our favourite clothes
- our favourite thing
the place we like to be most of all

I gave them A2 size and a permanent black mark pen. Use half the paper (landscape) they had to draw themselves doing the activity they liked most.
Then they had to draw the favourite thing (large).

Lastly they had another A2 paper and had to draw the scene of their favourite place. It was interesting that a few children could not draw this from a ground view they draw a birds eye view.

After finishing the three drawing we cut out the two first drawing and placed them on the scene (the place) They were able to manipulate the images around to get the best position then glued them. This became the planning drawing for our paintings.

I will now photocopy the planning drawings and the children will use these to work out the colours they next to use.

The A2 cardboard was then painted with undercoat awaiting next week.

A lot of work for one day. However, the drawing are amazing and have covered the whole page. It has created background, overlapping and the foreground subjects.

Finished colour theory, Matisse Paintings

We learned several different aspects of art this week.
The children worked through the process of drawing a person using the formula of 7 parts. They had to use a ruler to measure 7 even parts, then rule straight lines across the page before working step by step to draw a body. To follow on from this process the children observed other people working in the class and had to draw them. The proportion and angles of the bodies was much improved from the first time we practiced drawing a person.
We finished painting the pattern/colour compositions. The children really had to think about the colours they put together, using the language of complimentary, primary and secondary colours. They became very confident in mixing the colours from the limited pallet of red, yellow and blue paint. The discuss and group decision making about the colours become more purposeful as the compositions took shape.
Check out the results..

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.

Mussel Painting

The students had to compose a story in their head. They had two or three characters, a plot and a setting. Instead of writing their story they painted it.

They painted the background first, starting at the furthermost point then moving toward the foreground. After the experience of painting portraits, the students were able to blend colours confidently and in most cases allowed the paint to create moods or features.

After completing the backgrounds, the students painted faces on dried mussel shells (the characters of their story). Many students used other materials for hair.

When the painted background was dry, they dry brushed features onto the foreground of the paintings to compliment the story.

The mussels shells were attached to the painting with hot glue.

The compositions took on a special meaning to the students after they had given the characters names and composed a story. This activity could be extended to writing the story.