That's a mouthful to write and a challenging task for young children, but I knew they were up to the task.
We looked at a couple of works by Cezanne and discussed his use of black and loose paint strokes. I encouraged them to use this style as inspiration for their own works.
Then using a color wheel before getting started, the kids had fun finding the complimentary partner to each color I called out. Once they got the hang of that, we focused in on the complimentary colors to the real life compositions that were in front of them.
8 year old
Each child created their own unique compositional study using charcoal before starting with the paints. I then asked each child what they were thinking for background color and what colors they would need to create a full underpainting in the complimentary colors.
6 year old
I am not going to lie, it was an undertaking in itself to get the kids to really comprehend why you would create a full painting underneath that you wouldn't actually see at the end. It was one of those moments that I was grateful for the trust that each child has given me as an instructor because they took a leap of faith with my instructions that the underpainting would indeed add interest and depth to their work.
9 year old
For the Monday class, I created a real life study of apples with a pitcher and for the Wednesday class, a very large bunch of grapes. Once they had their underpainting created, they began working on their final paintings.
6 year old
8 year old
As you look at these works, keep in mind that each child was only given primary colors with white and black to work with. Everything created here, they mixed themselves. Between the mind workout of painting everything first in the opposite colors and then mixing their own colors, I am more than proud of these students.
8 year old
I love the way the above artist decided to paint in her final grapes using a spiral paint stroke, such a unique way to problem solve painting this many grapes!
10 year old
And the pitcher the two 10 year olds decided to include in their paintings was a very big challenge. It had an interesting decorative painting on it that was difficult for the girls. I think they both found a great way to hint at the pitcher detail.
10 year old
8 year old
10 year old
This group of friends asked if they could make large grapes, which I wholeheartedly agreed they should try. I really want to encourage each child to create their own aesthetic with what is in front of them and loved that they even thought to enlarge the grapes paper.
9 year old
I also had one young boy decide to add a plate and knife to his apple composition. He also added a slate table! The art tables in the studio are far less interesting that this lovely he created.
9 year old
As they finished their paintings, the kids had one more opportunity to use the charcoal to finesse any black line work they wanted.
7 year old
And as they completed the works and saw how interesting the addition of the underpainting made their final pieces, they were believers. Even though it seemed I was off my rocker at the beginning in having them created full paintings in crazy color that they were just going to cover up.
6 year old
It will be interesting to see if any of the kids relook at this technique the next time I introduce an acrylic painting project. Regardless I am so pleased they trusted me and took a leap of faith to try this technique in their work. Although difficult to understand in the beginning when I was describing it, each child, regardless of age, rose to the challenge.
Just like I knew they would.
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