sunset skies.

We have been having some incredible sunsets in San Diego as of late. I decided to do a painting project with the 2nd graders this week that celebrated these wonderful visual treats...

while addressing positive and negative shapes and 3d space, of course:)

We reviewed how we created 3d space and volume in our drawings from last week and then I shared a painting done by Patty Baker.

We identified the different parts or things in the painting and talked about how Patty made 3d space by using big shapes up close and small ones far away. I then shared the concepts of positive and negative shapes with them.

Then we got working. Bumpy line for the ground, tall to small telephone poles, wires, and birds. WHen we drew the birds I showed them a few ways to do them from different angles. Students choose where they wanted each bird to go. We then filled in the ground and birds with black and traced the lines.

We used cake temperas to add color to the sunset sky. Students could use any of the warm or color colors. I emphasized that if their birds disappeared because a color was too dark, to add more water to that area and spread  the color out to bring the bird back.

When their painting was done, they completed an exit slip that asked students to identify the positive shapes in the painting and to tell me something they were successful with in the project. (2W8 and 2W10)