Still life for little ones and older ones

Every year I buy a bouquet of flowers and bring them to the classroom. There is something special about having fresh flowers around and I use them with most of my classes, from Kindergarten to Middle School.

My youngest students got a directed sketch, I was drawing the flowers myself, step by step and kids were observing and sketching their own flowers following me. I gave them A3 cardboard and asked them to put their fingers in the middle of the paper, then move the finger down a bit and make a small line (a small line a bit below the center). We made sure to start the stems from that line, nothing below, so we have space for a vase later on. Once the pencil sketch was finished (one class) we outlined them with a permanent marker, usually I give crayons to my youngest students, but this year I upscaled that and the artwork looked terrific. Once the outline was finished (another full class) we painted the stems and leaves. I like to use a double dip technique and tempera paint, meaning I put a green/yellow palette and ask students to dip in one color followed by a dip in a second color (no mixing), then they paint their stems and leaves carefully (we used small brushes) and when we have no more color, we double dip again using a different mix. I was a bit worried with my grade one students, as the stems were quite narrow, but they totally impressed me! Telling them that I trusted them with my good brushes and the paint helped a lot 😉

Next class I gave them a warm color palette (add white, it will bring lots of light to the flowers), and they used the same technique to color their beautiful flowers.

Finally, last lesson was on symmetry and they designed their own flower vases. I projected many different shapes of vases (google vase outline) and asked them to choose one. We talked about symmetry and a simple trick to make sure our vases would be perfectly symmetrical, we folded a piece of colored paper in half, designed half the vase (on top of the fold) and then cut out. When you open the paper (unfold it) you will find a perfectly symmetrical vase. I gave extra paper to add details on their vases, then asked them to glue them on top of the stems, some kids had a line traced with pencil, and they covered up the line with the vase. Once finished they could come to the front to splash paint using water, dry temperas and an old brush. BEWARE, kids love this part.

Older students got a different direction, I challenge them to use a continuous contour outline, meaning once they put the pencil down, it cannot leave the paper until they finish their sketch. Get ready to answer all sort of questions, like, can I go out and scribble on the desk and back to the paper? (as far as you don’t lift and clean up the mess, yes).

Once they finished up, they outline with markers, here they can omit lines if they wish, then erase pencil marks. I handed watercolors, not temperas, just to tweak it a bit, last year I asked G7 to use a double dip technique using acrylics.

Still life sketch and watercolor

I really enjoy nature and inevitably that love of greenery is passed on to my students (I hope).

Still life sketch using plants found around is a great way for students to practice their observational skills and their sketching skills.

I always remind to them to spend more time looking at the plants than their own sketches. As simple as it sounds, it demands practice, as your brain usually overtakes and you end up sketching what you think you see, not what you really see.

Occasionally I ask students to start with a continuous contour sketch, and then proceed to sketch. This simple exercise (consisting of using ONE line to sketch the whole object you want to draw) is very good to train the eyes and to improve hand eye coordination.

I love bringing orchids to my class and asking students to sketch them. I also have quite some plants around and some times we do nature walks to find interesting still life object to sketch.  Once that is done you can color using ink and watercolor (permanent marker to outline, followed by watercolor painting) or only watercolors.  Colored pencils are another option, either to color the whole sketch or to add detail to watercolor paintings.

Enjoy!

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Happy Sunflowers an oil resist project for little ones

There is no better way to celebrate spring in the classroom! Grade 1 students practiced their sketching skills and watercolor painting with this fun project.

We started with a picture of a real watercolor and observing basic shapes found in it. Students were able to identify triangle like petals and a big circle.  We talked about the size of the center compared to the petals themselves, and the amount of petals observed.

They then proceeded to sketch a flower in their sketchbooks, but we traced a circle beforehand using containers found in the classroom.  Once they were happy with the flower, they traced on top with a black wax crayon.

Students used water colors as they liked to color the whole page, but I asked them to use warm colors for the flower and cool colors for the background.

Such a joyful class!