Drawing Magic

“Wow Ms. Pam, your crayons are really magic!”  Hearing this from delighted kids makes an art teacher very happy.  Using lines and shapes the kids drew elephants, giraffes, tigers and other animals.  Next, they added color with watercolor crayons.  When these crayons combine with water they change into paint.  The kids had a great time and these delightful drawings are the result!

   

  

   

  

   

  

  

  

  

   

  

Spring Gardens

Using lines and shapes the kids created oil pastel drawings of bugs and flowers. Liquid watercolors add bright, clear colors and neutral tones. Because the students used only the secondary colors (orange, green and violet), they were able to mix complex browns, rusts and a variety of greens.

   

  

  

  

   

  

  

   

  

  

   

  

   

Kids in Glasses

Even for adults, watercolor is a difficult medium.  Usually children are given a crayon or oil pastel to draw their picture before they paint.  The crayon lines act as a resist and the paint is held in place by the drawn lines.  These paintings have no resist lines!  The students used the principle of water attracting water.  They wet the shape they wanted to color with clean water before they added the pigment.  Developing new skills and techniques is an important part of a good art education.  These paintings are fun and unpredictable and are a stepping stone for greater experimentation with watercolor in the future.

      

     

     

     

     

     

Kids at Play

These paintings show the student’s growing understanding of color mixing and how shapes fit together to show kids at play.  Their confidence and skill is growing and these delightful paintings are the results.

Cat Paintings

                                           

 

Clay Cats

                                                         

Angels

                          

Lines Create Shapes

The marks and shapes the children worked with in the first lesson (see below), are used here but this time their lines form the shape of a bird. Adding pattern and repetition to the drawings creates movement and energy throughout the composition. Each artwork is unique to the student even though they started with the same concept! Individuality is important. These delightful turkeys are just in time for Thanksgiving.

    

                         

Lines and Shapes

Creating these wonderful abstract paintings taught the students how to make a variety of brushstrokes and shapes. Using only yellow, red, and blue paint, the kids were able to make an array of colors. The results of all this creativity is artwork filled with marks and colors that form a composition in which rhythm, movement, and texture are a natural result. Learning the basics of line, shape, color, texture, rhythm, and movement in the first lesson gives the children skills to use in subsequent works of art.