Patterned leaves

You need:

1. drawing sheet A4 size
2. pencil
3. black marker
4. water colour paint
5. jar with water
6. brush
7. white pencil
8. coloured sheet

Draw contours of leaves with a pencil on a white sheet. Don't forget some half ones on the edges. Draw veins. Trace the leaves and veins with a black marker. Fill the spaces between the veins with as many different patterns you can.

Paint the space between the leaves with water colour paint. Leave a white edge around the leaves. Let dry. Paste the artwork on a coloured sheet and finish the half leaves with a white pencil on this frame.

Building a burger

I did this lesson in October 2009, and soon saw it on many blogs. It's still one of my favorite lessons.
This week we had the Dutch Week of School Breakfast, a good reason to build a lot of new burgers with students of grade 4.
How to do this? Look at this post.

Printed mushrooms, group work

Group work by students of grade 3

You need:

1. piece of linoleum 15 x 15 cm
2. lino knife
3. block printing ink
4. flat piece of plexiglass
5. linoleum roller
6. white sheets
7. lino press
8. autumn leaves
9. scissors
10. glue
11. coloured cardboard

Draw a mushroom on your linoleum. Cut away the linoleum around the mushroom. Remember: what you cut away will not print. It is not important to carve deeply into linoleum, just enough so that carved area is lower than the linoleum surface. Always carve away from your hand, always keep your hand behind the back edge of linoleum. When you want to check your printing block, place a piece of paper on the linoleum and rub over the paper with a crayon. This will create a “rubbing” and will give you an idea of what the final print will look like.
Squeeze out “toothpaste” amount of ink on plexiglass. Roll ink out. The ink is ready when lines appear. Ink should look wet. 
Put your linoleum block on a newspaper. Roll one or two colours ink onto the linoleum printing block, working quickly to cover all areas. Lay the block on a sheet in the printing press and press. Take away the block and your print is ready.

To make a group work, all students have to cut out on of their their prints. Leave a white edge around the mushroom. Ask some students to make a collage of all mushrooms on  a piece of dark coloured cardboard. Paste some autumn leaves on the bottom of the collage.

Outlined autumn leaves

Made by a student of grade 5

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. liquid water colour yellow and red
3. brush
4. colour markers
5. glue
6. scissors

Paint a wet white sheet with red and yellow liquid water colour. Leave to dry.  Outline some autumn leaves on this sheet, cut them and paste them on a new sheet.
Choose three markers in wamr (autumn) colours and outline the leaves until the sheet is full. Draw the veins with a fine marker.

Blob creatures

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. tempera paint
3. scissors
4. glue
5. black marker
6. black paper for background

Start by folding the white sheet of paper in half and open it up again. Then drop blobs of tempera paint in three different colours somewhere around the middle of your paper. Don't put the paint to close to the edges. Fold the sheet and press by firmly moving hands around. This movement will move the paint around more than just folding.

Open the paper and dry flat.
Look carefully at this creature. Outline the creature with a black marker. Look for typical shapes, like arms, eyes, ears etc. and trace them with a marker. The drawing should be totally symmetrical.

Cut the creature, leaving half cm white around the black lines. Paste it on a coloured background.

Made by students of grade 4

Paper batik autumn leaves

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. oil pastels
3. brown tempera
4. liquid soap
5. brushes

Step 1
Ask students to bring autumn leaves. Outline some of them on the white sheet and draw veins in them. Colour the leaves and background with oilpastels, press heavily.

Step 2.
Wrinkle the sheet into a ball; make sure the picture is on the inside.

Step 3.

Smooth the paper out.

Step 4.

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

Step 5.

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. Paste or staple it on a coloured background.

Burton Morris!!!

Made by a student of grade 6

In February I posted a lesson about Burton Morris. It is a tutorial to make artwork in his style.
Today I was highly surprised when I got an email of the artist himself! Burton Morris wrote me! You'll all understand how excited I was!!!

Dear Jacquelin,

I came across your blog and saw your student's artworks. I am truly touched that you honored my artwork in your teaching lessons and hope it was a success and inspired the children!

I hope to show again in the Netherlands one day and feel free to keep in touch.

Your friend,
Burton Morris

If you want to check it out again, follow this link: http://kidsartists.blogspot.com/2011/02/in-style-of-burton-morris.html

To see his wonderful website: www.burtonmorris.com

Three owls of clay

Artworks are made by students of grade 5

You need:

1. clay
2. two beer coasters stapled together
3. clay plate
4. clay knife

In this lesson students will sculpt three massive forms together and then decorate them.
View pictures of owls and talk about the basic shapes: an oval for the body, round eye shapes, conical beak and plumes (note, these are not ears, because they are on the side of the head).

Students make three egg shapes in different sizes. The pointed end is the bottom of the owl. Modell these shapes together. Work out the shapes by attaching wings, beaks, plumes, eyes etc. The wings are made from flattened clay balls. To attach the wings, roughen the bonding side and press the wing firmly on the body.

Do the same with beak and plume using a conical shape. Make eyes by pressing the finger in the head. Apply texture to the wings, the body and around the eyes using a clay knife or little sticks.
Place the work on two stapled beer coasters. Let it dry for a few weeks before baking.

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.

Dutch canal houses groupwork

Part of the groupwork, made by students of grade 4

You need:

1. white drawing sheets
2. tempera paint
3. brushes
4. pencil
5. glue plakkaatverf

After a request of Amy Baldwin, art teacher in Millington, my 4th graders painted Dutch canal houses for the Empty Bowl fundraiser in Millington (Mi).

Before starting to paint, we talked about the Dutch Golden Age, a period roughly spanning the 17th century, in which Dutch trade, science and art were among the most acclaimed in the world. In this century many of the typical canal houses were built, in that age used as store houses. We looked at pictures of canal houses, discussed the different kinds of gables (neck gable, trep gable, bell gable) and details of the houses (windows, year it was built, stairs).

Every students gets a sheet of paper and has to draw a line on 8 cm of the bottom - this is for the canal. On the left side of the sheet there must remain a white strip of 2 cm (to paste all paintings together).

Every student draws his own canal house. Stop drawing after 5 minutes, to avoid drawint to many details. Paint the house with tempera paint. Mix colours, or for even better results: take two colours of paint on your brush and mix a little while painting.

Paste all paintings together to make a long street. Paint the canal. You might even add the words  'Groeten uit Holland'!

Click to see full site.

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. 

Peaks and valleys

Made by a student of grade 2

You need:

1. drawing sheet A4 size
2. crayons in bright colours
3. watercolour paint
4. brushes
5. jar with water

Discuss with the students the difference between hills and mountains. When do we call something a mountain, when a hill? What does the top of hills look like? And what about the top of a mountain - this can be a sharp point or eroded and round, depending on the age of the mountain. 

Show students step by step how to draw a landscape with hills and mountains. Start with two wave lines Start with two wavy lines on the bottom of the drawing sheet. Draw diagonal lines down from the lowest points. Draw some high mountain peeks behind the hilss and draw a sun behind the peeks.

Fill the mountains and hills with patterns. Use crayons in bright colours. Each mountain should have its own pattern. Paint the mountains and the sky with watercolour paint. Patterns and lines will resist the watery paint.

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!

Swimmer - like David Hockney

I found this terrific lesson on the blog 'Use your coloured pencils' of Anne Farrell. I used this lesson to tell about artist David Hockney and his swimming pool paintings.

You need:

1. white drawing sheet A4 size
2. coloured paper for background 
3. oil pastels
4. liquid water colour, blue and green
5. brush
6. jar with water

The successful British artist David Hockney was born in 1937 in Bradford, England. He studied at the Royal Academy in London. His first works were anecdotal and ironic. In 1964 Hockney moved to California, where he developed a more realistic way of painting. The main themes at this time, are pools, landscapes and portraits.

From 1966 David Hockney increasingly used photographs for his paintings. He made ​​collages containing just photographs. After 1980, Hockney's work became a more expressionistic character. His work shows influences of Picasso Besides paintings, Hockney also makes drawings and etchings. 

Look at artwork of David Hockney, especially those with swimming pools. Discuss with the students how people look like under water - flowing hair, lighter skin. What causes the shimmering
surfaces on the water and what do they look like?

The students draw one or more people in swimsuits and colour them with oil pastels. Use white oil pastel to draw a water pattern in the background, consisting of wavy horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines.
Paint the picture with blue and/or green diluted coloured ink. The swimmers and the white lines will not resist the ink.

Artworks made by students of grade 4

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

African adire

Made by a student of grade 4

You need:

1. white drawing paper A4 size
2. crayons
3. liquid watercolour
4. brush
5. ruler
6. pencil

Yoruba women in Nigeria make a type of resist-dyed cloth that they call adire. They make some adire by folding, tying, and/or stitching cloth with raffia before dyeing. This is called adire oniko, after the word for raffia, iko. They also make another type, adire eleko, by painting or stenciling designs on the cloth with starch. Both types are dyed in indigo, a natural blue dye.

The dye-resistant starch can be either painted freehand or stenciled onto the fabric. When freehand painting, the artist usually paints a grid of squares or rectangles onto the fabric first. Then she fills these squares with geometric and representational motifs.

Stenciled patterns are even more diverse. New motifs, both geometric and representational, are constantly being created. They can include everything from simple shapes to elephants, keys, letters, and skyscrapers. The metal stencils are made by men, who sell them to the female adire artists.

Show some pictures of african adire and discuss them. Show African symbols and talk about their meanings.

Students use pencil and ruler to divide their sheets in squares of 5 by 5 cm. Draw with a yellow or white crayon symbols and/or patterns in these squares. Paint the sheet using coloured ink.

Coffeepots like Klaas Gubbels

Made by a student of grade 5

Klaas Gubbels (Netherlands, 1934) is a Dutch artist. He is best known for his still lifes of tables, chairs and coffee pots. He also makes sculptures, mostly with the same subjects.

Gubbels attended various art schools and teached art at the Art Academy in Rotterdam.

Gubbel's work became more abstract over the years. A characteristic of Klaas Gubbels is that he avoids all that is 'beautiful'. Beauty is unreal to him and keeps us away from the truth. The subject isn't interesting, but the humour, agression or dullness of this subject, that's what it's all about. The utensils, if they are freed from their jobs, end up with a mood or emotion.

Gubbels uses various techniques in his works: painting, drawing, graphic techniques, but also photographs, collages, assemblages and sculptures in glass and metal.

You need:

1. canvas A4 size
2. acrylic paint
3. brushes
4. jar with water
5. pencil

Show artwork from Klaas Gubbels. Discuss the subjects of his paintings. What stands out? Much or little detail? Depth? Perspective? Use of colour?

Students work on canvas with acrylic paint. Tell them about the properties of this paint: it dries quickly and is paintable.

Students have to make a painting with one of the topics that Gubbels frequently paints: chair, table or coffee pot. Unlike the real Gubbels works, the children in this task, however, have to paint a background. White is out of the question!

Made by a student of grade 5

Colour theory part two

Following Colour theory part one a lesson about the effect that colours have on each other.

The aim of this lesson is that students discover the effect of primary and secondary colours on one another.

You need:

1. two sheets of white or black paper, A3 size
2. coloured sheets in red, yellow, blue, orange, green and purple
3. glue

Pre-cut squares of coloured paper. Per student you need: 5 squares of 5 by 5 cm in all six colours and five squares of 3 by 3 cm in all six colours.

Repeat the terms primary and secondary colours and name the colours. Tell students they will see today how the colours interact. What would be yellow on blue? What about red on purple? What colours would stand out well, what not? Try to discover how we can systematically investigate. Eventually you come to the following concept:

A. primary on primary.
B. primary on secundary.
C. secundary on primary.
D. secundary on secundary.

primary on primary

A. Primary on primary.

To make all combinations of primary on primary to make you need 2 large and 2 small squares of all primary colours. Ask students to find out how, or give them the solution:

- blue on yellow and red on yellow
- yellow on blue and red on blue
- yellow on red and blue on red
Paste all combinations on a sheet of white paper. Write under it: primary on primary.

secundary on primary

B. Secundary on primary.
To make all combinations of  secundary on primary, you need 3 large squares of each primary colour and three small squares of each secundary colour. Ask students to find out how, or give them the solution:

- orange on yellow, purple on yellow, green on yellow

- green on blue, orange on blauw, purple on blue
- purple on red, green on red, orange on red
Paste all combinations on a sheet of white paper. Be sure the big squares in the same colour are next to each other. Write under it: secundary on primary.

primary on secundary

C. Primary on secundary.
To make all combinations of primary on secundary, you need 3 big squares of each secundary colour and 3 small ones of each primary colour. Ask students to find out how combinations have to be made, or give them the solution:

- yellow on orange, blue on orange, red on orange

- yellow on purple, blue on purple, red on purple
- yellow on green, blue on green, red on green
Paste all combinations on a sheet of white paper. Be sure the big squares in the same colour are next to each other. Write under it: primary on secundary.

secundary on secundary

D. Secundary on secundary.

To make all combinations of secundary on secundary, you need 2 big and 2 small squares of each secundary colour. Ask students to find out how combinations have to be made, or give them the solution: 
- purple on green, orange on green
- orange on purple, green on purple
- purple on orange, green on orange
Paste all combinations on a sheet of white paper. Write under it: secundary on secundary.

Ask students after making this work to discuss see which colors are most contrasting, which you hardly see, etc.

Colour theory part one

By students of grade 2

You need:

1. black cardboard 15 by 15 cm
2. coloured paper in yellow, orange, red, purple, blue, green
3. scissors
4. glue
5. pencil

Fo the first part of a lesson on colour theory, we repeated primary and secundary colours and showed how to make secundary colours out of primary colours. Students knew those colours, but didn't know the names. Tell them about the complementary colours, the colours that lie opposite each other in the circle, called complementary. Red is opposite green, yellow against purple, blue opposite orange.

The primary colors red, yellow and blue are in a triangle. The same goes for the secondary colours orange, green and purple.

Tell students to cut 6 shapes from the coloured sheets and paste them on black paper as discussed.

Use a pencil to draw triangles in dotted lines between the primary and secondary colours.