Garden Party.

During the summer, I teach painting and drawing to multi-age groups of children from our community and neighboring communities at a camp sponsored by our local school district. The children bring with them various levels of exposure to art and art instruction. A lesson in warm and cool color families, mixed media, and a surprise "visitor" resulted in wonderful garden paintings created by my class of 6-10 year old students.

Looking closely at a few samples of vines and flowers, we noted the leaves growing upward and outward from stems and branches. We felt their veins and textured surfaces. Since gardens are a familiar subject, the children were able to recall and visualize a variety of plant forms. With these images fresh in their minds, I gave them 18 x 24" (46 x 61) black construction paper and white chalk. They began filling their papers with simple contour drawings of bold plant and floral shapes. The broad chalk lines encouraged large, roomy areas to paint later on.

Warming up with Chalk

I demonstrated how to use the whole arm to draw on a large surface, rather than just using the fingers and wrist. After practicing this technique the children's drawings began to loosen up. Perhaps working on black paper proved less intimidating than working on blank white paper. Their drawings expressed confidence and freedom of movement. The children enjoyed working with chalk and erasing with tissues.

Next we explored the use of color in our project. Flowers and plants come in a variety of colors, but ours would meet the criteria for either warm or cool color families. Thinking of the sun, the students listed the warm colors of reds, oranges, and yellows. Thinking of water, they came up with the cool colors of blues, purples, and greens. We decided they would use both color families in their paintings, choosing one for their plants and the other for their background.

Mixing Floral Colors

I demonstrated how to set up their palettes, starting with a dollop of white tempera in the center of a paper plate. Smaller dollops of two colors, either warm or cool, were placed outside of the puddle of white. The students loved watching new colors emerge as the colors were mixed with a brush. They observed how to mix light tints beginning with the white, and deeper tints beginning with a color. Each student was given a plate to mix their selected colors.

I encouraged them to repeat every color at least twice to help balance their composition. A large (3/4") and small (1/2-1/4") flat brush helped control the flow of paint in large and small areas.

Creating A Background

When their paintings were dry, the students thought about the background. It had to be of the opposite color family, and only one color mixed with white. I reminded them to use more white for light tints and less for stronger color. As they painted, they began to see the plants moving into the foreground, and the background receding. They were intrigued with the effect of the black paper shading the colors, particularly noticeable in the background. They liked the challenge of matching a color if their supply ran out or if they returned the next day to finish an area.

Garden Guests

When the paintings were completed and dry, the students chose colored chalk using the warm or cool colors of their plants. They outlined all of the shapes and added the texture of veins. Now their gardens sprang to life! I held up one at a time while each artist stood back and looked. A smile bloomed on each face. But we were not finished with these charming gardens. It was time for the guests to arrive: Bugs!

I gave the students 9 x 6" (23 x 15 cm) 80 lb. white drawing paper and pencils. They looked at illustrations of insects, and drew one using most of the space on their paper. The bugs needed to be big enough to first color and then cut out. They used black permanent markers to go over their pencil lines, and then colored them with an array of gemstone and metallic crayons which added a gleam to their bodies and wings. The students made a pop-up support for their bugs by folding a narrow strip of paper accordion style.

Deciding where to place the insect was important. Moving it around to various positions changed the focal point of the composition. For a finishing touch, we added glitter.

We created a gallery of gardens in the hallways. Viewers joined our "garden party" and admired the beauty of their surroundings. The insects shimmered ever so slightly as they hovered over the gardens. Everyone was delighted they had come!

NATIONAL STANDARD

Students use art materials and tools in a safe and responsible manner.

Barbara Silverstein is an elementary art teacher at Morris School District Community School in Morristown, New Jersey.