Kg. Mood Paintings

This project is another one for the annual Picture The Music Art Competition for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.  Here, I wanted to focus solely on color & its relation to feelings or moods.  So, after listening to our selected music, I had each student think of only 1 color that they think would best match the song.  Then, we drew an abstract drawing on the paper using a variety of lines & shapes.  Next, I showed the students how to mix their colors into each space.  They painted each space a different tint or shade of their color.  I know tints & shades are a little deep for Kg's, but I figured the process of mixing the colors to make them darker and lighter is more important here rather than focusing on the technical terms.  So, I think they turned out pretty well...what do you think?

Penda's painting

Corey's painting

Jared's painting

Monrey's painting

 Mackenzie's painting

The Longest Line Drawings

Students in grades 4-6 have been working on these fun, colorful drawings for the past two weeks.  This project went right after our Moving Line Drawings, both using colored pencils, and I think my students need a break from the "sit and color" routine we've been in for 4 weeks.  So, next week I am thinking we need to do something fun and fast, maybe with paint :)

For this project, we discussed the definitions of line and shape.  It was quite comical to hear their responses for the definition of "line".  They said things such as, "a straight line...uggh, nevermind", to "something that is either straight or curved", to finally "a segment connecting two points"!!!  Yay!  It was difficult to define something so simple.  We reviewed the different types of lines and went to work filling up our papers with only ONE line.  They could curve the line, squiggle the line, zigzag the line, and so on, but it could not stop until they filled up the entire paper.  Next, we traced the shapes over our drawings and colored in each shape with a monochromatic color scheme.  Here are some results:

Monochromatic Paintings

Our 4th graders were studying the color wheel, mixing colors, and color theory.  We created these paintings in one class period, believe it or not!  I gave the students a 11"x11" piece of paper and instructed them to draw 4-5 geometric shapes on their paper using a black marker.  Next, I walked around the room with my paint tray and let each student choose 1 color of paint to use, plus white and black.  Then I demonstrated how to paint each space with either a tint or a shade of their color.  In fact, I had the students mix their color right inside of the space they were painting.  These paintings were fast, fun, and successful - an Art Teacher's dream come true!