1st, 2nd and 3rd Grade Art

We had a great experience with the Andy Goldsworthy art project and I am glad the weather cooperated enough for us to complete the building of the work. The students began to see elements in a different way and were very engaged with the entire process. Following the Goldworthy project, we moved into a painting project. I presented the classes with several examples of Impressionist landscapes and we talked about the feeling the artists evoked by the way they layered the paint. We talked about the atmosphere and emotions each piece conveyed and speculated on how they achieved the mood of the piece while still representing the landscape. The students choose their favorite painting to try and emulate. They began the project by taking 2 minutes of silent observation of their choice and noticed many colors and details that were first missed. The next step was to quickly sketch the horizon line, focal point and main bodies of interest in the paintings. A color field wash was added before any details were begun. The students have recently started adding more layers of paint to their landscape and the images are beginning to take shape. It is difficult to not begin with details at this age, so it is definitely a learning process! I imagine we will have a few more classes of painting before the project is complete. This will be our last big project of the year.

1st class, color wash

2nd class, big picture color added