Color Theory and Mixing

Today we did some exciting wok with color theory and color mixing. But first, self portraits from last week are now hanging in the main hall at MMS. Check them out!

Today the children had a chance to get messy and learn about the relationships between colors. We began our class by guessing what would happen when we mixed one primary color (red, blue or yellow) with another. Of course, they are all so bright and educated their "guesses" were pretty well informed.

Our ultimate project here is for the kids to make their own color wheel relating primary and secondary colors. With that in mind we began by six 3" x 5" pieces of white paper. The kids picked their favorite shape from a collection of stencils. After stenciling their chosen shape onto each paper we got out the paints.

We painted the primary colors onto three of the sheets. Some kids only painted the actual shape. Others painted the entire page. To each their own!

Then we moved on to color mixing. Red with blue, blue with yellow, yellow with red. And even though the kids knew in their minds what colors to expect it was an absolute delight to see how excited they were when it actually happened. Secondary colors mixed, they painted the final 3 sheets with green, purple and orange.

Next week we will cut out the shapes and arrange them in a circle (bisected by 2 triangles) to make a color wheel.

And for our last 10 minutes, the most fun of all, free color mixing. The kids got a selection of ALL the paints and were free to mix and explore as they liked. See below for just a few of these exciting pieces, and one of the pallets (they were so pretty, I couldn't resist).

 

Another wonderful morning with a great group of kids!

Self Portraits -- Printmaking

 Kindergarten Self Portraits

This morning in art class was all about self portraits. We began by adding a few final touches and special personal details to the printing plates.

Then the children paired up and had a chance to take turns printing. Everyone began the project with 6 pieces of colored paper of their choice. They used foam rollers to roll white ink onto their printing plate. Then they carefully laid a piece of colored paper on top of the plate and gently rubbed the paper. This transferred the image from the plate to the paper. Then they carefully peeled the paper up and the portrait appeared!

 I encouraged them to be sure to make at least 4 prints so we can "frame" their set next week in a nice square. Printing is difficult and the results vary based on the amount of ink, the wetness/dryness of the ink, and the pressure applied to the paper. Given the variability of the results, I thought that the kids did wonderfully well embracing each new portrait as it appeared. Some of the portraits were quite clear and bright and others had a hazy mystery to them. All of them were perfectly beautiful.

Stay tuned next week for another exciting art class!

Welcome to MMS Art Class 2017-2018!

Welcome to the 2017-2018 Art Class at MMS!

Before beginning the fun on our first day of art class, we introduced ourselves and discussed what the guidelines and expectations for behavior are in art.

1. Have Fun!

2. Listen (to teacher instruction AND classmates comments/questions)

3. Respect (for classmates/teacher, art materials and classroom space)

4. Talk and Work Quietly

Our first day began with the kids receiving their personal sketchbooks. This is a really special and exciting element of the kindergarten art program. During some classes, the sketchbooks serve as a place the kids can work to further explore the days lesson.On other days, they can be used as completely free and safe space where the kids can create whatever they like!

Today we began by working on the covers of our sketchbooks, making them unique and personal. The kids were free to design their sketchbooks in any way they chose. It is always interesting and exciting to see where the kids go with an open ended assignment.

 

After finishing the sketchbook covers, we moved on to the stage one of our first project: printing self portraits. It is a challenging assignment to begin with but we break it down into easy steps. First we warmed up our hands and eyes by following along with some practice work sheets. These gave the kids a chance to think about and explore the different shapes and lines we see when drawing a face.  Then we worked on our final practice sheet. There the kids brought all the features together and practiced drawing their whole face.

Then we got out some soft printmaking plates. (They are almost like a very thin sheet of styrofoam.) The kids drew their faces for a final time. Drawing with pencil on the styrofoam sheet, the pencil sinks in. Next class we will be rolling ink onto these sheets and printing them! The lines the kids drew will remain the color of the background paper and everything else will "print" in the color of the ink. It should be fun -- and messy! Please remember to send in a smock or adult t-shirt for your child!

We will be printing multiple times with many different colors just to see what happens. It should be pretty exciting. Plus,the self portraits they create now will hang side by side with the end of the year self portraits! Just imagine that.