Thursday, 31 May 2012

Wild Geese Handprint Paintings

Year 1/2 artwork
Lesson Background:
I used this lesson 5 years ago after seeing it in a Book Week activity pack.  As my students are currently studying a unit on flight, I thought it would be nice to revisit this lesson.  Usually my lessons are very "artsy" whereas this one is more craft-based, but it did use quite a few skills they have been learning this year (colours that work well together from the colour wheel and light and shade), plus they are so cute I couldn't resist!

Lesson Materials:
1 sheet of coloured art paper per child (in sky colours)
coloured oil pastels
good quality white acrylic paint
1 paintbrush per child
black permanent markers

Lesson Steps:
1.  The students chose whether they wanted to create a sunset scene or a day time scene and picked colours for their artworks accordingly.  They then selected a piece of coloured A3 paper (light or dark blue for daytime or orange/yellow/pink for sunset skies).
2.  The students chose corresponding day time or sunset oil pastel colours.  We revised which colours blend well into one another (e.g. light blue into dark blue or orange into red, etc).  The students then placed their oil pastels on their sides and coloured across their pages to create the sky.
3.  The students used light and dark green oil pastels to draw in reeds at the bottom of the paper.
4.  The students painted the side of one of their pinky fingers and hand below the pinky finger with white paint.  They curved their hand to create the shape of the goose body (hand below pinky finger) and neck (pinky finger) and stamped it onto their sky background. 
5.  The students stamped however many more geese they wanted onto their sky ( I suggested between 3-5 and spaced apart). 
6.  The students wiped the paint off their hands and then painted just the side of their pinky fingers.  They then stamped these 3-5 times on both sides of the geese bodies to make wings.  I reminded them to keep their fingers curved otherwise they would get very unnatural-looking perfectly straight wings.
7.  The students used orange oil pastel to draw beaks, legs and feet on the geese.
8.  Some students chose to outline the beaks, legs and feet with black permanent marker.
9.  When dry, the students used a black permanent marker to draw 1 or 2 eyes on each of their geese.

NOTE- I was a tad disappointed that the geese didn't seem to stand out as brightly as last time I did this artwork.  I realised this was partly due to the children not putting quite enough paint on their hands but mostly due to the poor quality of the paint.  Next time I will source better quality white paint!!
Also- I would suggest doing this artwork one step at a time (you demonstrating, then the children copying) with young children as my students had quite a bit of trouble when they got to the wings!

Student Artworks from Year 1 & 2:

One of my sample artworks

One of my sample artworks



By Serina (Year 1)

By Charlotte (Year 2)

Wednesday, 23 May 2012

Students' Homemade Artworks

I have made this post to display artworks that my students create on their own at home.  Often these artworks are inspired by art lessons from school, which is great to see!  Sometimes they are completely original which is also exciting!

I will add new artworks over time.  The first one is below...

By Eve (Year 1)
This artwork was created by Eve using acrylic paint on canvas.
Eve was inspired by our Sandra Silberzweig lesson in class earlier this year:  http://mrsbakersartclass.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/silberzweig-inspired-portraits-in-oil.html


Well done, Eve!  What a great talent at only 6 years old!!

Artwork # 2:  By Paige (Year 1)


Paige created this artwork using oil pastels.  She drew and coloured the cat at home by by herself (based on our art lesson in class: http://mrsbakersartclass.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/soft-pastel-cats.html) and then cut it out and pasted it on a pink cardboard background.

Well done, Paige!  What a beautiful artwork!


Friday, 4 May 2012

Curved Line Oil Pastel Pictures

Year 1/2 Artworks
Lesson Background:
My Year 1/2 class have been learning about straight and curved lines in recent maths sessions and learnt about the colour wheel during art lessons earlier in the year.  I spotted the artworks of Maria B. Davis on the Internet and thought they combined these 2 concepts very well.  http://www.mariabdavis.com/Oil_Pastels.html

Lesson Materials:
1 sheet A3 art paper, trimmed to allow for a 2-3cm border of backing paper
Oil pastels
Lead pencils
Rubbers
Circle shapes (Maths shapes, tins, bottles, glue-stick lids, etc)
Newspaper (to keep the desks clean)

Lesson Steps:
1.  We looked at the art of Maria B. Davis and talked about the difference between straight and curved lines and how Maria used curved lines to create her artworks.
2.  We examined her use of colour blending and talked about how colours of the same tone (or next to each other on the colour wheel) blend most easily.  We brainstormed which colours blend best into one another on the board, (e.g. yellow into orange into red)
3.  I demonstrated how to use circle shapes to trace circles onto the art paper.  I then demonstrated how to use curved lines (& only curved lines!) to join the shapes together.  I emphasised the importance of the students making sure the lines they drew helped to create other interesting shapes (no boring bits!).
4.  The students went back to their desks and did their drawings.
5.  I demonstrated how to colour and blend: 
-Outline a shape in the lightest colour (e.g. pale pink) and then colour in the shape with that colour. 
-Select the next darkest colour for blending (e.g. hot pink and/or red) and outline and colour half the shape in this darker colour. 
-Then take the lighter colour you started with and colour over the top of the shape, pressing firmly to smooth the colours into one another.
6.  The students went back and did their colouring and blending, making sure there were no white gaps and that they didn't leave messy fingerprint smudges!
7.  The students outlined all shapes in black oil pastel to make everything stand out.
8.  One of my students told me they had given their artwork a title (Well done, Gabe!) so I suggested that everyone have a go at creating a title for their artwork, based on how it made them feel, what it reminded them of and what they were thinking about while making it.  This was a great activity and very insightful- some children definitely have an artist's spirit, others are very literal and some perhaps just watch a bit too much TV!!!  Enjoy...

Class Artworks:

"Fireball Ocean" by Charlie (Year 2)


"Blend" by Paige (Year 1)

"Starry Night" by Eve (Year 1)


"Circle of Life" by Ashley (Year 2)

"Moonlight" by Eloise (Year 2)

"Solar System" by Gabe (Year 2)

"Colour World" by Dora (Year 2)

"Dark Claw" by Rohan (Year 1)


"Multicoloured Beach" by Marlo (Year 2)


"Clever Art" by Nive (Year 1)


"Waterlily" by Liliana (Year 2)

"The Goat" by Sebaga (Year 2)