Cat on head - like Corneille

Made by a student of grade 3

You need:

1. drawing sheet A3 size
2. oil pastels
3. liquid watercolor paint
4. brushes

Corneille painted often cats, birds and women. There are some paintings where he painted the cat on the head of a woman!
Show Corneille paintings on the digital board or use google: 'Corneille woman cat'.

Who of you has a cat at home? Does it ever lie with you? Does your cat ever lie on your head?

Look at these artworks. What do you see? Why would the painter left the cat's eyes white?  Do the women on the paintings have hair? 

Draw a head on your sheet with oilpastel (dark color). Maybe your own head, but you may choose another head too. Draw a cat sitting, standing or lying down on the head. The cat looks like hair! What hairstyle it is, had to do with the position of the cat. 

Color your drawing with bright colors. Trace the outlines with a dark color if necessary and paint the background with liquid watercolor paint. 

Made by a student of grade 3

There are more lessons about Corneille on this blog! Use the search function. 

Corneille China

Made by a student of grade 1

You need:

1. paper plates)
2. black markers
3. acrylic paint
4. small brushes 
5. jars with water and paper towels

Show some pictures of animals in Corneille's artwork. What do you see? What can you say about the colors? Do you like it? Why or why not? What animals do you see on the china?

Choose an animal. Use a black marker to draw it on your plate. You can also decide to draw just the head of the animal. Your drawing has to be large, it has to fill almost the entire plate. Can you think of anything else? Does the moon shine? Is your animal with others? Or is it in the grass? You can make it!

Color your drawing with acrylic paint and a brush. Choose bright colors and make sure it's opaque. Rinse your brush with each new color and dry it well in a paper towel; the acrylic paint shound not get wet.

Trace the marker lines again if necessary but only if the paint is really dry.

More information about Corneilla and the Cobra group on this blog:  Lesson 1 en lesson 2.

Collage like Karel Appel (CoBrA)

On black background, made by a student of grade 5

You need:

1. black or white drawing sheet A3 size
2. colored construction paper, 5 colors for each student 
3. glue
4. black tempera paint
5. small brush
6. liquid water color paint for background 

Karel Appel (1921-2006) was a Dutch expressionistic painter and sculptor, famous as one of the founders of the CoBrA movement. CoBrA stands for Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam.
CoBrA artists were inspired by children's drawings and the art of mentally disturbed.

Tell your students about abstract and figurative art. Show abstract and figurative artworks and ask which word belongs to them.
Then view some of Karel Appel's works: Little Boy, Some people together, Blue faced beast and Saarbrücken (Google pictures). Are these figurative or abstract? Put your hand on the eyes of the painting. Is the artwork still figurative? Students will discover the Appel's art is very close to abstract. 

When we see Karel Appel, we discover:

• large surfaces
• bright colors
• a few colors
• thick black lines

Students tear (using two thumbs and two fingers, show well how they have to tear)  organic shapes from the construction paper.  It's absolutely not the intention to tear a human of animal. The shapes have to be 'just like that'.  Some students will smuggle a little bit and stick an eye somewhere. Then squeeze an eye :) but do not accept clearly laid human figures.

When they have torn enough pieces, students make a composition of the shapes and paste them on the black or white sheet. The pieces may also be stuck over or on top of each other. Then the most exciting part of this lesson: what do I see in my collage? Ask a classmate to keep your work up. What do you see? Turn the work 90 degrees, and again and again. Do you see an animal or a human?
Use black paint and a thin brush to draw lines on your artwork so that your human of animal is also visible to others. Not too much lines, there must be some guesswork too!

On a painted backgrond, made by student of grade 5

Birds like Corneille (2nd lesson)

This lesson about Corneille is almost the same as the lesson I posted a few days earlier. However, drawings in this lesson are made with oilpastels by students in a lower grade. 

 You need:

1. white drawing paper A4 size
2. oil pastels
3. coloured ink
4. brushes
5. jar with water
6. coloured paper for background
7. glue or stapler

Life and work of Corneille
See my former lesson for information about the artist. 

What to do?
Show examples of Corneille's work. What subjects do you see in his paintings? What can you tell about his style: bright colours, thick black outlines, few details, painted as if it was made by a child, an image that sometimes is not complete (missing parts at the edges).

 
Draw the outline of a bird with a black crayon. Make surethe bird reaches at three edges of the sheet: it should be big! Colour in bright colours and/or patterns. Paint the background with deluted blue ink. Stick the drawing on a coloured sheet.

 

All artworks made by students of grade 3

Animals like Corneille

You need:

1. white drawing paper A3 size
2. tempera paint
3. brushes
4. paper towels
5. jar with water
6. coloured paper for background
7. glue or stapler

Life and work of Corneille
Guillaume Cornelis Beverloo (1922 - 2010), Corneille, was a Dutch artist, born in Belgium and died in France. He is buried on the same cemetery as Vincent van Gogh, a painter he highly admired . 

Corneille was an autodidact. In his early years he painted realistic: still lifes, people and landscapes. In 1948 Corneille was involved in the creation of the CoBrA Group, a group of Danish (Copenhagen), Belgian (Brussels) and Dutch (Amsterdam) artists. Even writers and poets belong to the CoBrA group. The artists' group only existed for three years, but has been very important for Corneille's work. 

According to Corneille, the CoBRA artists want to express themselves on a expressionistic way, like children, by playing open-minded with colours and shapes. Since 1950 Corneille lived and worked in Paris. His paintings are bright and colourful. The sun, women, paradise, trees and birds are recurring elements. He is particularly fond of birds. His artist name Corneille is French for 'crow'.

What to do?
Show examples of Corneille's work. What subjects do you often see in his paintings? What do you notice about his style? Discuss the features: bright colours, thick black outlines, few details, painted as if it was made by a child, an image that sometimes is not complete (missing parts at the edges).

 

In this lesson students have to sketch very briefly (maximum 5 minutes!), to avoid drawing too many details and to force them to work big. Students may  also choose to sketch with a small brush and light yellow paint. This will automatically result in working big with little details. The yellow lines can easily be painted with different colours later.

 

Sketching with yellow paint

Sketch the outline of a cat or bird and make sure this animal reaches at least three edges of the sheet: it should be big! Paint the animal in bright colours and/or patterns. Paint the background too. Leave the work to dry and outline everything using a small brush and black paint. Paint your name in black somewhere at the artwork, like Corneille did. Stick the painting on a coloured sheet.

 

All artworks made by students of 11 years old