Preschool Monoprints

I'm learning a lot with the preschool class.

My goal the last two classes has been to try to develop an understanding on what happens when you mix the primary colors together. In other words, how to make orange, green, and purple.

The results at the end of class have been just about having fun blending the primary colors and enjoying the process.

I first had the three girls use the brayers and roll out a primary ink color onto a plate.  That alone was lots of fun. Using copy paper, we then laid it over top of the ink and pulled a print.  Again equally exciting and we hadn't even drawn anything!

Then using another primary color they rolled the ink across a plate and this time, drew into the ink with a Qtip.  When finished they used the same piece of paper, placed it on the ink with their drawing,  rubbed, and pulled another print.

The hope was they would see a new color created by combining two primary colors.  

We drew pumpkins in red and yellow ink and when I asked what color they saw, I got a resounding "GREEN!"

So I quickly abandoned the original plan and just let them explore rolling the ink onto the plates, drawing lines into the ink, and pulling prints.  

They had a lot of fun and after several prints, I quickly pulled out another type of plate I thought they would enjoy too- the gelatin plates I made during the summer.

"cat" 3 year old

I gave each child a little palette of ink in the primary colors, included white to create tints,  and a paint brush. I let them paint ink onto the gelatin plates until their hearts were content. (more ink than you can imagine was on the plates) I encouraged them to not completely blend all their colors with varying degrees of success.

"cat" 3 year old

Then again with the trusty Qtip, I had them draw a picture into the ink. 

I asked them what each of their favorite animals were and brought out some reference material for them to look at also.

Stop laughing. 

I know, reference material with three year olds. It was completely unnecessary but they did enjoy the idea of looking at the reference and putting it next to them to utilize while they drew, even though they paid no attention to it whatsoever.

"bunny bun" 3 year old

This child brought her stuffed bunny to class called, bunny bun. She had so much fun drawing it in both these prints,  although the top one is quite an abstract "bunny bun". 

Without doubt that was exactly what she was going for because I work with nothing less than genius three year olds,

Isn't it funny how as adults we want to create product out of projects? She certainly wasn't concerned with anything more than getting lost in process and was quite enthralled with the results from that simple perspective.  

I don't think she spent one minute thinking about what an amazing abstract bunny bun she created........

"bunny bun" 3 year old

I am quite proud of her with the above print. No doubt restraint when it came to not blending all the inks into one color was challenging. Not only did she not blend everything, she even created that pink shape by painting the negative space purple! (not that she realized that, but still, impressive) 

"penguin" 3 year old

And finally this little girl, you know that friend who isn't afraid to cannonball into the water without first checking to see if it's cold? I can think of no better way to describe this child.  She is ALL IN, all the time. No time to wait when there are things to be explored, just give her the paintbrush and let her go. I love the movement in the above print. To me, it captures her personality perfectly.

"cat"  3 year old

And then there is the penguin who became a cat. How great is her composition of thirds? You know she was completely thinking of that when she created this work.  Because again, genius child.

In the end, I know they enjoyed exploring the world of monoprints. And although they may not quite have the whole orange and green thing down, they certainly learned from their experience with color blending.

They learned it was fun.

And isn't that the most important thing of all? 

There are two spaces left in the preschool class. This is a drop off class, however I am perfectly fine with parents staying if that makes their child more comfortable. Please contact me through KudzuStudio.com if you are interested in your child joining the fun.