In order to help students understand color opposites I explain it this way.  

The primary colors are:  red, yellow and blue.

Two make one
It' takes two primary colors to make a secondary color.
The secondary colors are:  orange, purple and green.  All secondary colors have two primary colors. 

If a student would like the flower petal to be orange they have to find the opposite of that for the background in order for it to really show and glow.

A primary color will find it's opposite in the secondary colors.
A secondary color will find it's opposite in the primary colors.

How to know for sure it's the opposite color
It all goes back to the three primary colors.
All three colors will be utilized in some formula in which two are mixed together and the last primary color will stand alone.

For example in the artwork below by Nicholas, he wanted his flower to be orange which is a secondary color made up of the two primary colors red and yellow.  

The primary color left out of the flower is blue, therefore blue is the choice for the background.  

The Russian artist Wasisly Kandinskhy said "everything starts from a dot".  Just like everything we do, think and say ripples out from tiny dots of thoughts, actions and words, everything starts from a dot, or a spark.
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Painting was a spiritual practice for Kandinsky.  He believed in his art so much that his mission was to share what he did in order to uplift humanity.  He even wrote a book titled:  Concerning the Spiritual In Art.

Kandinsky was the first to use color as a primary mode of expression.  The Abstract Expressionism Movement that came out of this idea was and still is a revered form of art. 

Not everyone agreed with Kandinsky. Color as emotion was a change to thinking and to what had been thought of as "correct" for art. Like many artists with a belief and passion, Kandinsky had to persevere in his beliefs..  

Perseverance is a character trait all artists need to develop.  In art class last week, one student's comment that they were board was used to help the class  understand an important lesson.

Often times when you have a goal, the beginning is exciting and the end is rewarding, but the middle of it can be filled with boredom, struggle, hunger (when is snack?) and just plain old being tired out.  

We practice perseverance in art to  complete our work, to be responsible in caring for our supplies and in leaving the art rooms in good shape for the other artists like us who use the same space..  

​To begin the lesson, we looked at Kandinsky's Color Study with Concentric Circles done in 1913

_We began our art by learning how to fold paper, 
We took the bottom corners of the paper and raised them up to meet and "kiss" the top two corners.  Using one hand to hold the top of the fold, we used the other hand to press down on the rounded fold to flatten it out.

Inside each rectangle of our folded paper we used primary colors:  red, yellow and blue.  Please find here the worksheet on the process we followed to color the basic shapes.  Sequential steps got us started.  In short we used only primary colors to make our eight circles inside rectangles.  

Just filling up the paper with color is a terrific accomplishment in itself.  Next, after a much deserved snack, we used the primary colors to go on top of other primary colors.  We had to make at least one  orange, green and purple.

We also used white at the end to see how it could lighten and even change the color underneath.  This blending with oil pastels is almost like painting.

What colors are you feeling today?  How would you express your feelings in color starting with a dot?

"Each color lives by it's mysterious life." - Kandinsky 

Today in art we prepared for the Art Show at the Torpedo Factory.
The show dates are from February 19th-28th.  The art will be hanging on the second floor of the Torpedo Factory near the Art League School Office.

While at the Torpedo Factory enjoy viewing the Patron's Show in the Art League Gallery..  Check out Sheep Jones in studio 7, as her art is fun for both children and adults alike.

HomeArt
The techniques we used in class are fun to do at home.  Valentine's Day is coming and the fun starts with line.  
Draw a heart and inside of it make some decorations.  Here is a worksheet to get you started on ideas.

After you practice and get comfortable, draw your heart on watercolor paper if you want to add color.  They look great in just black and white too.  I use a black sharpie marker to draw the hearts.  It won't bleed when adding watercolor.

After your heart is drawn on watercolor paper, wet the paper under the faucet with running water.  Get it really wet.  When you add the watercolor paint it will just spread out and go where it wants.  Let it do that.  This is called wet-on-wet.

You can't control the color but you can add most of one color for example to your heart and another color in the background.  The colors will bleed a little into each other but that's okay.

If you get too much color over the drawing just take a paper towel and don't wipe but blot.  You will notice the pattern of the wad in the paper towel comes through as a neat texture on the wet watercolor paint.

Below is an example of wet-on-wet with blotted paper towel textures.  You can color the paper first and then draw or draw then paint.  Try both.

Have fun with these techniques. I say that families that create together are great together.  

Happy Valentines Day!

What we did in Art
In art today we practiced drawing shapes as a follow up on last weeks Miro drawings.  After looking at what the children came up with in just an hour last week, I realized we needed more time to really delve into practice drawings.  

I asked students to copy some images I had drawn for them.  I've decided each week we will start out like this as drawing is fundamental.  Everyone was very successful in copying the little drawings I made for them..  

HomeArt
The whimsical characters of Miro are a good source of imagination for children to work with.  Please use this link to a whimsical creature drawing you can print out.  Ask your child to use the drawing as follows:

Option 1:
Copy the whole thing.

Option 2:
Copy the large creature but fill in with thier own smaller shapes around the creature.  There can be only three shapes around the creature but they need to be repeated until the paper is full.

Place all five finger tips together and touch the paper with all five tips.  If the tips of their fingers together fit into any area without touching a part of the drawing, they need to put more drawing there.  This is called tips of the finger test.  

Option 3
Draw your own whimsical creature.   The rules for the creature drawing are:
1.  It must be at least the size of half the paper but not the whole paper. (to leave room for the other shapes)
2. The whimsical creature must have many details (at least 20): wings, legs, arms, feet, claws, eyeballs, ears, teeth, etc.  Looking at many animals and insects will help your child to use a little of everything to add to their creature.  Without images and ideas it's hard to just come up with details. 

We Also worked with Clay!
We worked with the air dry clay today to make little birds.  The clay will dry at home and it won't look all that pretty as the clay dries in blotches.  

If you have some tempera paint, or any paint safe for children, you can paint the birds.  I use just one color or two to keep it uncomplicated.  This is called a limited pallet and I'm sure they will turn our beautiful.  Blue birds or sparrows are all delightful.

Until next week....don't neglect your creative self.  Make art as much as your child and you will never end up saying "I can't even draw a stick figure".  Or you will at least, stop saying that!  LOL!