Trees, dots and colour blending :TR Mack style Yr 5 Primary art

My year 5 boys have just completed a painting unit based, 

inspired by the work of TR Mack.

There are a number of art education ideas

 floating around the internet,

 regarding this artist.

 One I particularly admire 

is by One Crayola Short,

 so check it out too.

I have taken a slightly different approach with my Yr 5 boys.

We began with some colour wheel theory and vocabulary (building the foundations).

Eventually we turned our focus
 to monochromatic colour schemes.

The boys were set the task
 of painting a monochromatic background.

We discussed choices they could make such as blending,

or using a more textured cross hatching approach.

Monochromatic Background using a textured approach

The next step was to look at the work of TR Mack
 and deconstruct his approach to tree scapes.

The boys practiced drawing trees...
 splitting branches again and again.
We discussed styles; swirly, angular, sparse, spooky etc.

(incidentally there are real science and Maths links

 possible here, as my husband pointed out).

Fill in the trees in a solid colour such as black or navy

Before the boys were ready to draw
 up their tree(s) on their background,

we recapped some compositional concepts
 that we had covered in a previous unit.

Points such as:

•  avoid placement in the centre,
•  anchoring the image by connecting to the edges,
• variety of size if there is more than one tree etc. 

Add a ground if you wish

Finally, we printed dots,
 and dots on dots,
 and dots on dots on dots. 

We used old corks, cotton buds,

 industrial offcuts, anything circular will do. 

Testing colours and objects for printing.

Spacing is important here,

and we discussed clusters,

 regular spacing, irregular spacing

 and the pros and cons of all possibilities.

These examples are only a handful of the class,

as they were all successful.

I love how each tree has its own story.

3d Sculpture for Children

Kids love to build. 

They are naturally drawn to sculptural activities and relish in the challenges they bring! 

How simple are these 3d wonders?

 All we used was some bags of plain paper balls from a craft supplier (polystyrene balls would probably work too), black textas, a hot glue gun, bendy wire and pliers. The stands were pieces of throw away industrial plastic from Reverse Garbage. 

These sculptures are a great way to teach and clarify some of the elements.

 Children  (and adults) are often confused by shape and form but its easy really....a circle is a shape, but a sphere is a form. These primary school sculptures were achieved through a focus on shape, line and form (some elements of art). The students 'drew' line work on the spheres and through the manipulation of the wire.

Obviously balance (a principle of art) was also a major consideration both visually and structurally. The little artists loved figuring out how far they could 'push' the design before it physically tipped - some great problem solving resulted.

I did this with Year 6 but I could easily take it into the secondary school classes.  

This was fun, fun, fun! 

Try it...I'd love to see the results!

Linking up Elle and Lou with:

Homemaker on a Dime-Sunday Blog Hop
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Sugar Bee Crafts- Take a Look Tuesday
Homestories A to Z
Hope Studios-Tutorial Tuesday
Homework

Texture in Nature -Year of the Forest

"A nation that destroys it's soils destroys itself.

 Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people"

Franklin D. Roosevelt

This forest's mojo is ever apparent to the humble guest, and so my snaps are merely a clumsy attempt to convey its  verve.

Recently we spent four nights in the Bunya Mountains National Park, which is 200km northwest of Brisbane, Queensland. The Bunya Mountains are an isolated section of the Great Dividing Range that played a significant role in Aboriginal culture.  The Bunya's are simultaneously peaceful and energetic.  But, if you look closely, you see great textures...and colours... and lines..and shapes...........   

It is International Year of the Forest and in the name of balance I couldn't resist another forest quote:

"If a tree falls in a forest and lands on a politician, even if you can't hear the tree or the screams, I'll bet you'd at least hear the applause"

Paul Tindale

Sharing at this great photography blog: