What's in your egg?

 

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A5 size 


2. charcoal


3. yellow sheet for background 


4. hairspray

A great lesson for Easter, to be done in several grades. 



Start this lesson with a yeaser: Imagine you break your egg on Easter, and it shows something very different than just the egg.... Draw this imagination with charcoal on a white sheet.

Give instruction on how to work with charcoal. Point out that charcoal stain quickly, and give students tissues with water to clean. Show that the charcoal stripes could be blurred by smearing. In this way the shadows on the egg can be made. Tell charcoal can be erased with kneaded eraser.



Let the children first practice to experience for their self how you work with charcoal.

Then they draw the two  seperated halves of an egg with that's what in it between them. The egg should not just hang not in the air, but has to lie somewhere on or in (grass, cloth or similar).



Fix the drawing with hairspray and staple or paste it on a yellow background.

Made by students of grade 3

Pastel planets

You need:

1. black construction paper A4 size


2. chalk pastel


3. hairspray

During our school project about Space, students of grade 5 made these fantasy solar system. Spheres were drawn with attention towards an imaginary light source creating light and dark values. Overlap was required to suggest depth. To suggest the endlessness of the universe, parts of planets had to be drawn at the edge of the sheet.

 

Draw circles by tracing round subjects or use compasses. Colour with chalk pastel. Note the technique of the chalk: colour, smear and blend until you're satisfied. Fix the artwork with hairspray.

 

Snowmen mandala

You need:

1. white drawing sheet 


2. compasses


3. scissors 


4. crayons or oil pastels 


5. indian ink


6. brush

Step 1.

This lesson is a variaton on 'Autumn leaves mandala'. Click the link for full description.

Focus in this lesson: make sure the snowmen are really coloured white with crayons or oil pastels, otherwise they will turn completely black with ink after step 2.

Step 2.

Crumple the picture into a ball. Make flat again. Paint the entire drawing with indian ink. Rinse the ink immediately after it in the sink and let the work dry. The ink will rest in the folds of the paper  and creates a great "antique" effect.

Made by a student of grade 3

Golden Christmas

Made by a student of grade 6

You need:

1. white drawing sheet 20 by 20 cm


2. ruler


3. pencil


4. silver and gold marker


5. black construction paper


6. glue

Children divide their sheet with ruler and pencil in 16 squares from 5 by 5 cm. In each square they draw a Christmas figure: tree, candy, snowman, skates, mitten, sock, candle etc. These figures have to be coloured , just like a checkerboard, with gold and silver marker.  Paste the drawing on a black sheet.

Silly sandwich

You need:

1. drawing sheet 12 by 30 cm


2. colour pencils

Create a super size sandwich, stacked with all your favorite things to eat! The sandwich could be as crazy or realistic as you want them to be, just stack them high!

Autumn leaves mandala

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size


2. compasses


3. pencil


4. oil pastels

Draw a circle with a diameter of 20 cm. Draw within about 1 cm another circle (the edge of the mandala). Cut out and fold into 8 pieces. Draw against one of the folds half of an autumn leaf using black oil pastel.

Fold the sheet and press firmly with the hands to get a print of the leaf on the other side of the fold. Trace this half with black oilpastel. Repeat this and draw the other three leaves. Colour the leaves and background with oil pastels in warm colours. Colour the edge with a nice pattern.

Halloween scene

Made by a student of grade 6

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size


2. liquid water colour yellow and orange 


3. brush


4. jar with water


5. black markers


6. black construction paper for backgroud


7. glue or stapler

This lesson is about silhouettes. A silhouette is a shadow, you can only see the outside lines. Show  some silhouettes or shapes made with your hands. Show that sometimes the light comes through openings in the silhouette, so it is not just black.

Make the drawing sheet wet and paint it yellow and orange with liquid water colour to suggest a sunset. Draw a horizon line. Draw a house or a tree, and draw Halloween things around. Colour the silhouettes black and let light where it can. Paste or staple the artwork on a black sheet.

Same animal, different colours

Made by a student of grade 1

You need:

1. two white drawing sheets A4 size


2. oil pastels


3. liquid water colour


4. brush


5. jar with water

A lesson about cool and warm colours.

Draw an animal on a white drawing sheet. Be sure it's not too small. Ask the teacher to make a copy of this drawing. Colour the first animal with oil pastels in warm colours, the second one in cool colours. Paint the background with liquid water colour, using warm and cool colours as well.

Paste both drawings below or next to each other on a large white sheet. 

Outstanding name

By Vincent, grade 3

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A5 size


2. waterproof black marker


3. colour markers


4. black fine marker

Every year we make a birthday calendar in the classroom. For the calendar of this year, we used this lesson. The drawings were pasted on a coloured sheet with the date of the anniversary of the student.



Write your name in elegant letters with a black waterproof marker on a white sheet. Outline the letters with markers in different colors. Divide the background into pieces, by drawing lines from top to bottom and from left to right. Fill out the individual surfaces with patterns drawn with a black fine marker. Make sure that your name really stands out!

Sunflower batik

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size


2. oil pastels


3. pencil


4. tempera paint brown or black


5. liquid soap


6. brushes

Draw some sunflowers on the sheet and on the edges. Colour them with oilpastels, press heavily. Wrinkle the sheet into a ball; make sure the picture is on the inside.

Smooth the paper out. Use black or brown tempera with a tiny bit of liquid handsoap, and paint over the entire paper.

Then rinse the paper under cool water. The paint sticks in the little crinkle wrinkles giving it that batik look.

Leave the work to dry and press it flat between two books.

Made by students of grade 4

Sunflowers in five different materials

You need:

1. sunflowers or pictures of them


2. white drawing sheet A1 size, cut in strips of 30 by 65 cm


3. five different colouring materials, like colour pencils, tempera paint, watercolour paint, oil pastels, crayons, coloured ink, aquarell pencils etc.


4. brushes


5. pencil, ruler


6. coloured paper


7. scissors

Look with the students at some sunflowers or pictures of them. How thick is the stem, what can you tell about the leaves, how are the petals divided, what colours do you see in the heart of the flower, etc.

Divide the sheet with thin lines into five strips of 13 cm high. Draw some sunflowers. Make sure the flowers themselves are drawn at the demarcation of the strips. Make sure too that in each compartment at least half a sunflower or leave is drawn.

Choose five different colour materials. Use in every compartment a different material. Consider yourself the order of the materials, for example from bright (markers) to less bright (aquarelle pencils).

Paste the work on a coloured background. Or cut the five compartments and paste them with some space between on a coloured background.

Made by students of grade 5

Artist Trading Cards exchange with Australia

Another Artist Trading Cards, this time with Anna Pietrolungo from Essendon North Primary School in Australia.

Contact with a school contact with a school on the other side of the world is so exciting for my students! We searched the school on Google Earth, visited Anna's art blog and the school's website.

Many ohs and ahs when they saw the Australian students wearing school uniforms. That's inconceivable in the Netherlands and it took quite a time to discuss the the pros and cons (although most of my students didn't see any pro at all!).



My students made about 35 cards. Subjects and materials were their own choice. I laminated them and sent them to Australia. Hopefully their cards are almost ready, because we only have two weeks school to go before my students leave us to go to highschool!

In the style of Keith Haring, group work

Group work, made by students of grade 2 and 3

You need:

1. drawing sheet A1 size 



2. pieces of cardboard 10 by 15 cm



3. pencil



4. scissors



5. glue



6. colour markers



7. permanent black marker 

We worked in groups of five students.

Each student draws a figure on a piece of cardboard in the style of Keith Haring: no details, movement, a figure like in a comic. Cut the figures and trace them several times with pencil on the big sheet. Working together is required!

Instructions:

- Draw not twice the same figure next to each other.

- Vary the position: upright, horizontally, diagonally. Turn the cardboard to get a mirror figure.

- Do not start in the middle, but work from the side and place the figures as close to each other.

- Outline all figures with a permanent black marker.

- Divide the intervening areas into smaller areas by straight lines drawn with black marker.

- Choose one colour per person and colour the areas with these five colours.  

- Put your signature on the work, just as Keith Haring did!

Connected shells

Warm colours, made by Emmy, grade 6

You need:

1. white drawing sheet 20 by 20 cm


2. colour markers


3. fine black marker


4. pencil

Draw a few lines on the sheet to divide the paper into sections. Draw several shells on those lines. Be sure the shells touch eachother. Trace the shells with a fine permanent black marker. Colour the sections between the shells with colour markers in warm or cool colours.

Cool colours, made by Bjorn grade 5

In the style of Romero Britto

Dutch tulips in the style of Romero Britto, by Malou, grade 6

This was one of my most successful lessons so far; students enjoyed it and the results were amazing: In the style of Romero Britto.

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size


2. permanent marker


3. colour markers


4. ruler

Romero Britto is a Brazilian artist. He was born in 1963 in grew up an extremely modest lifestyle amongst eight brothers and sisters in Recife Brazil. His drew and painted on any scrap of newspaper or cardboard he could find and filled them with colourful images of a beautiful world.  

In 1983 Britto travelled to Europe to study the old masters. After this trip, he traveled to the USA where Pop Art was flourishing. He opened a gallery in Miami. In 1989,Absolut Vodka selected Britto to design an artwork with their famous logo. From that moment the name Britto was known to a greater public. His artwork are now represented in galleries and museums across five continents.

Paris in the style of Britto, by Emmy grade 6

Look at artwork of Britto on his gallery. Discuss the salient features: bright colours, simple shapes, the work is divided into sections that are filled with patterns, thick black outlines. Discuss how you to see the difference between the drawn picture and the background. Ask about the stylistic characteristics and where to classify this artist (Pop Art, Cubism).



The students have to make a drawing with a topic of their choice. No details, but only the main lines. Divide the drawing surface with pencil and ruler in several sections. Trace all lines with a waterproof black marker and then colour them with markers in the way Britto did.



For the background we stamped circles with toilet rolls on a coloured sheet and pasted the artwork on it.

Flowers in the styleo of Britto, by Nadia grade 6

Filled with fruit

Made by a student of grade 3

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size


2. oil pastels

Choose four fruits and draw many of them on the drawing sheet. The fruit should overlap. Colour them with oil pastels and outline with black.

MOMA

Made by Debbie, grade 6

You need:

1. drawing sheet A4 size


2. colour pencils


3. ruler

A lesson about drawing one point perspective.



Students draw a square in the middle of their sheet and draw four lines from the corners to the middle, see schedule. These are the floor and ceiling lines. Draw two lines from both short sides to the middle. Between these two lines the paintings has to be drawn. Draw lines from the bottom to the middle for tiles or parquet.

It's nice to draw artworks that students have made this schoolyear or to choose for artworks of famous painters.

Colour with colour pencils.

Fantastic felines in the style of Laurel Burch

You need:

1. pink or purple constrution paper A3 size


2. oilpastels


3. tempera paint


4. brushes


5. gold and silver markers


6. glitter


7. glue

Laurel Burch (1945 –  2007) was an American artist, designer and businesswoman. As a 20-year-old single mother she found metal in junkyards to hammer into jewelry to support her two children, and went on to launch her business, now called Laurel Burch Artworks, in the late 1960s with the help of a small staff that worked out of her house. She began making paintings and was commissioned by restaurants, businesses and private collectors. Burch designed, among other things, beads, jewelry, paintings, T-shirts, scarves, coffee mugs and tote bags, but 90% of her designs derived from her original paintings.



Especially Burch's cats are recognizable. Few some of her paintings on the website of Laurel Burch and discuss the salient features: bright colours, bold pattersn, eyes and nose are drawn out of one line. use of silver and gold.

 

Students draw a cat on purple or pink paper in the style of Laurel Burch. Colour the cat using different materials like tempera, oilpastels, gold and silver markers. Outline the cat with silver or gold. Draw a frame around the artwork. Use glitter to accentuate lines.

All artworks are made by students of grade 5

 

Prisoners in World War II

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size


2. ribbed cardboard


3. pencil


4. watercolour paint


5. brushes


6. jar with water


7. black wool 


8. glue

In Holland we rembember the victims of World War II on the 4th of May. The 5th of May we celebrate the day of liberation. In schools World War II is an important part of the history lessons. Students are always very interested in this topic.



"We had to draw one or more people in a concentration camp. Our drawings should show the fear and powerlessness of the prisoners. Most of all did well and the artworks were really beautiful. When the drawing was finished, we had to paint it with watercolour paint, using sad colours. We used black wool to make barbed wire and pasted it in front of the drawing. Finally we pasted the artworks on ribbed cardboard. It was an intense task, and it made us really think about that terrible time."

Artworks are made by students of grade 6

Thanks to Sylvia Versteeg

Easter eggs with lines

You need:

1. cardboard egg shape 10 cm high


2. pencil


3. white drawing sheet


4. several colour materials, like markers, colour pencils, crayons, chalk pastel 


5. coloured paper 20 by 14 cm


6. gekleurd papier 14 cm hoog, 20 cm breed


7. glue


8. scissors


9. fine black marker 

What kind of lines do we know? Let students draw them on the blackboard: straight - horizontal, vertical, diagonal; angular, like zig-zag and curved lines.

Students have to make four Easter eggs. Ouline the template with a pencil. Draw straight lines in the first egg, curved lines in the second one and zig-zag lines in the third one. The fourth egg may is made with lines of their own choice. Trace the lines with a fine black marker. Colour them with four different materials: colour pencils, markers, chalk pastel and crayons. Cut the eggs and paste them on a coloured sheet.

Made by students of grade 3