Saturday, January 9, 2016

Abstract Painting For Young Ones








Kinder and 1st Gr.

Abstract art is wonderful, but it can be problematic when you want to delve into it. How do you explain it to youngsters? How can you facilitate the creation of intriguing abstract art without it becoming a mushy mess? There are probably many good methods for this, but here is a suggestion for one way to go about it. You will find that their natural brush strokes lend themselves perfectly to abstract art.

Materials:

Good quality tempera or acrylic paint.
Heavy weight paper.
Images of abstract art.Try Kandinsky,Pollock, Miro, Rothko, or whatever are your favorites.

Critique

1. Show some images of abstract art to the students.
2. Ask questions about it. Allow them to answer, one at a time. Sometimes it can be difficult to delve into a "critique" with little ones, but the more you do it, the more they will understand that they must takes turns speaking. 
3. Discuss the idea that abstract art is basically lines, shapes and color.

Production

One of the keys to producing non-muddy abstract paintings is to let the paint dry between steps. This might be tricky if you see your students once a week, as it might take too long to finish the work. Another method is to have them thoroughly dry their brush in between colors by wiping it on a towel without using water.

1.  Give the students 3 or 4 colors of paint. Start by painting some basic shapes anywhere on the paper. Remind them to make them big, and they can't overlap. Don't mix the colors. Demonstrate. You can also have them turn their paper different directions as they paint, so as to get away from making all the shapes in a straight line. Allow the paint to dry.
2. Give the students 3 or 4 different colors than they had before. They will paint in the background and around their shapes. Remind them to paint thickly, and not to paint over their shapes. Allow to dry.
3. Give students black and white paint. Instruct on painting different types of line; zig zag, straight, curly, etc. They will paint these anywhere on the paper. Rinse brush, and use white paint to do more lines. They can outline some of their shapes or make dots. Remind them not to paint a picture of a flower or truck, as these are just lines and shapes! Also, remind them to keep the lines separate and don't paint white on top of black.




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