There's a ghost in my bedroom!

Help, there are ghosts in my bedroom! Behind the wardrobe, under my bed, behind the curtains....

What do you need:

• white drawing sheet 
• indian ink
• dip pen
• pencil
• paper towel
• black paper for background

What should you do? 

1. Sketch your room with a pencil: bed, wardrobe, toys, window, door. 
2. Draw ghosts on several places. 
3. Trace the drawing with indian ink. Leave the ghosts white.
4. Fill the rest of the drawing in with various textures*. 
5. Paste the drawing on a black sheet.

* Look for a lesson on texture : Exercise in drawing texture. 

Artworks made by students of grade 5. 

Positive negative pumpkin faces

What do you need?

• black construction paper A4 
• orange construction paper A5
• ruler
• pencil
• scissors and glue
• cutting knife

What should you do? 

1. Divide in four rectangles.  
2. Divide the four black rectangles each in two rectangles. 
3. Divide the orange sheet in four rectangles; each rectangle is as big as a half black one.
4. Draw half of a pumpkin against the edge of an orange rectangle. 
5. Draw one eye, half of a mouth and a nose and cut out with a cutting knife.
6. Cut the outline of the pumpkin. 
7. Paste the half orange pumpkin against the edge of a black rectangle. Paste eye and mouth on the opposite side of the pumpkin.
8. Repeat these steps to make the other three pumpkins.

Wacky witches

You need:

• charcoal
• chalk pastels
• drawing sheet 
• black construction paper
• hairspray

Before

How do you recognize a witch? What animals or things do you associate with a witch? What does an angry witch look like? Think of characteristics like mouth, eyes and eyebrows.

Tell students how to use charcoal. Explain how we make differences in colors. Show how to use an eraser to erase the charcoal lines and a tissue to sweep out the color.

What should you do?

1. Draw the contours of a witch face with charcoal. 
2. Color it with chalk pastel in a cool color. 
3. Draw a mouth, eyes and nose with charcoal. 
4. Add some typical witchy things like a cat, bat, spiderweb etc.
5. Use hairspray to fix the drawing. 
6. Stick the drawing on a black sheet. 

Works of art made by students of grade 4.

Which witch is this?

You need:

• drawing sheet 
• pencil
• markers
• white or silver pencil 
• black paper for background

Before
Start the lesson with a class discussion about witches. How do you recognize a witch? What things belong to a witch? What can you tell about the clothing of a witch?

What to do?

1. Draw with pencil the lower half of the body of a witch: skirt and legs. 
2. Draw things that belong to witches. 
3. Draw a horizon line at 1/3 from the bottom. 
4. Color the drawing with markers. 
5. Color the background with markers or chalk pastel. 
6. Paste the artwork on a black background and decorate the rim with theme-related little drawings in white or silver pencil.

Works of art made by students of grade 5.

Pumpkins like Yayoi Kusama

What do you need?

• black construction paper
• colored paper
• black marker 
• black fineliner
• scissors and glue
• white pencil

About the artist
Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (1929) creates paintings, sculptures and large installations with mirrors and lots of light, symbolizing infinity. All her artworks have one thing in common: polka dots. That's why she's affectionately known as 'the princess of polka dots'. 

From an early age Kusama wanted to make art, but her traditional Japanese parents didn't like this. That's why Kusama left for NewYork and joined artists there, including Andy Warhol. 

By adding all-over marks and dots to her paintings, drawings, objects and clothes she feels as if she is making them (and herself) melt into, and become part of, the bigger universe. She said:

‘Our earth is only one polka dot among a million stars in the cosmos. Polka dots are a way to infinity. When we obliterate nature and our bodies with polka dots, we become part of the unity of our environment’.

View and discuss artwork of Kusama. 

• use of large and small polka dots 
• backgrounds are often filled with triangles
• use of bright colors
• her installations suggest infinity

What to do?

1. Draw three pumpkins on the colored sheets and cut them.
2. Draw bigger and smaller dots on the segments using black markers.
3. Draw triangles on the black sheet with a white pencil - start with a zigzag line.
4. Paste the pumpkins on the black sheet.

Works of art are made by students of grade 4. 

Catching leaves

What do you need?

• drawing sheet 
• oil pastels
• liquid watercolor paint
• brushes

What should you do?

1. Trace your hand (thumbs point to each other) on the bottom of the sheet.
2. Color them with oil pastels. 
3. Draw swirling autumn leaves above the hands and color those with oil pastels. 
4. Paint the background with diluted liquid watercolor paint leaving some space on the edges.
5. Or: choose real autumn leaves instead of drawn ones. Stick them on the drawing after painting and drying the background.

Works of art made by students of grade 3. 

Autumn leaves with tissue paper

What do you need?

• white drawing sheet
• tissue paper in autumn colors
• brush
• jar with water
• white crayons

Before
Look at different shapes of autumn leaves. Discuss shapes and colors. 

What should you do?

1. Draw different leaves on the sheet with white crayon. 
2. Tear parts of tissue paper (not too small) in autumn colors. 
3. Stick the pieces by wetting the sheet part by part and laying them in it. Watch out: no two same colour pieces next to each other. Be sure the tissue paper is wet enough to bleed.

   4. Let the artwork dry a little. 
   5. When it's still moist a bit, pull of the tissue paper. You can use tweezers           to avoid colored fingers! 

Works of art made by students of grade 3. 

Autumn leaves in cubist style

What do you need?

• white drawing sheet 
• pencil
• ruler
• tempera paint
• brushes
• gold marker

Before
Ask students to take autumn leaves. Watch them together, paying particular attention to the shape: heart-shaped, oval, round, oblong, etc. The composition of the leaves may vary: a leave can be single or composed of several leaflets (pinnate or palmately).

What should you do?

1. Draw several leaves, they may not overlap. Draw half leaves against the edges. Draw only the outer form of the leaves, no veins. 
2. If the sheet is largely filled, draw diagonal lines with pencil and ruler: two from left to right and two from top to bottom. Make sure these lines pass through the leaves. 
3. Choose four warm colors tempera: two for the leaves and two for the background. Paint the leave parts within a shape in one color and the background in a different one. Paint the leaves in the next square in a third color and the background with color four. 
4. Trace contour lines of the leaves and the diagonal lines with a gold marker.

Works of art made by students of grade 6.

Whirling leaves

What do you need?

• white drawing sheet 
• watercolor paint
• brushes
• jar with water
• small and thick black marker
• construction paper for background
• glue

Before
Ask students to take flat dried leaves. 

What should you do?

1. Chooses a leave and outline it several times with a pencil. Let them whirl down from the tree. Make sure some leaves go over the edge; these will later be finished on the background.
2. Paint the leaves with watercolor paint. Use water to dillute the paint less or more. Choose warm fall colors and try to make transitions in the colors by using wet in wet technique.
3. Paint the background blue. Use again the wet in wet technique, and/or choose for wet on dry. You don't have to paint exactly against the leaves, they will be outlined later.
4. Leave the work to dry and paste it on a colored background. 
5. Outline the leaves with a thick black marker. Use the fine marker for the veins. Don't stop with outlining and drawing veins when you reach the background, but go on with it there.

Works of arde made by students of grade 6.