The sky is the limit

Golden Gate Bridge

You need:

1. grey paper A4 size
2. white and black pencils
3. pictures of famous skylines

During a visit to the Museum in The Hague, I saw an artwork that Escher had made on gray paper. The only colours he had used were black and white. Together with the gray, you do have a lot of colours at your disposal. The Escher drawing I saw then, was the inspiration for this lesson.

Show photos of some famous skylines. Discuss skylines, skyscrapers and remarkable buildings. Ask children to search a skyline on the internet. Print this in black and white and then copy it so you can see the shadows of the buildings (settings light - dark on copyer). Students draw with just white and black pencil on the grey sheet.

Artworks made by students of grade 6.

Printing African animals

You need:

1. styrofoam
2. pencil
3. block printing ink
4. paint roller
5. flat piece of plexiglass
6. coloured paper

Explain the principle of printing. Why is it that people started to print texts and pictures?

Draw an African animal with a pencil on the styrofoam. Press to get a print in the foam. Squeeze out “toothpaste” amount of ink on plexiglass. Roll ink out. The ink is ready when lines appear. Ink should look wet.
Put the styrofoam on a newspaper. Roll one colour ink onto the foam, working quickly to cover all areas. Lay a sheet on top of foam and press with a flat hand. Take away the sheet and your print is ready. Let dry and cut it with about 1 cm around. Paste one or more prints on a white sheet. 

 

All artworks made by students of grade 6

Bogolan - African mudcloths

What do you need?

• black construction paper
• tempera paint in brown, white and gold
• brushes

Instruction

A bogolan is a handmade Malian cotton fabric traditionally dyed with mud. It has an important place in traditional Malian culture. The cloths are nowadays being exported wordwide for use in fashion, fine art and decoration. 
Show this movie about bogolans and show pictures of bogolans. Discuss colors, patterns and symbols. 

What should you do? 

Two students get their own black sheet, but have to make one bogolan together - the sheets will be stuck together when finished. So they have to come to agreements about colors, patterns and symbols. 

Artworks made by students of grade 4.

Valentine - like Robert Indiana

Made by a student of grade 2

You need:

1. drawing sheet 20 by 20 cm
2. water colour paint
3. brushes
4. fine black marker

A lesson about the famous LOVE sculpture of Robert Indiana. I used the Dutch word LIEF (meaning Nice, or I like you) 

Fold the sheet in four squares. Draw hearts in each part. Draw fat letters on the foreground. Fill letters and hearts with patterns and paint with water colour paint. Outline with fine black marker. 

Blogwriter in NY!

Popsicles

Made by a student of grade 5

You need:

• water colour paint
• drawing sheet 25 x 25 cm
• brush
• white crayon
• jarswith water

Dras six popsicles with a white crayon on a white sheet. Paint them with watercolour paint. Paint the background blue, leaving an edge from about 2 cm white.

Still life fruit

Made by a student of grade 4

You need:

1. acrylic paint 
2. canvas
3. brushes
4. bowl with fruit

Talk about still life paintings and show some artworks from famous still life painters. 

Tell students it's all about composition and colour. 

Place a bowl filled with fruit on a table. Students paint this bowl on their canvas. 

Veggies

Made by a student of grade 3

You need:

1. veggies
2. white drawing sheet
3. liquid watercolour paint
4. crayons
5. indian ink
6. brushes
7. jar with water

Talk about veggies and why we all have to eat them. Show several veggies.

Use crayons to draw several veggies on your sheet. No overlapping.  Just draw the outlines, don't colour them with crayons.
Colour with liquid watercolour paint. Use two colours to make the paint bleed.
Paint the background dark grey with dilluted indian ink.

Rudolph with his red nose

All credits for this great lesson and a full step by step instruction on ArtVenturous. I made these cute Rudolphs last year with my grade 1 students.

Halloween cat and window

Made by a student of grade 4

You need:

1. white drawing sheet
2. liquid water colour paint 
3. brush
4. black construction paper 
5. cutting knife and mat
6. glue
7. black marker 
8. white chalk pastel
9. carbon paper
10. pattern

Paint a white sheet with yellow and orange liquid water colour paint. Enlarge the pattern and trace it on the black sheet using carbon paper. Put a cross in the parts that have to been cut. Cut the pattern and paste it on the coloured sheet.

Draw Halloween details with black marker. Use the white chalk pastel for details on the black paper. 

Source: halloweenwitchesflyinmachine.blogspot.nl/