He is remembered for his studies of birds and the illustrations he created of them in their natural habitat. His color plated book, The Birds of America, is considered one of the finest on birds ever completed. During his lifetime, he discovered 25 new species of birds in North America.
The kids are always fascinated when I tell them the extent of his studies when illustrating a bird and always enjoy thumbing through the collection of his illustration plates.
I told each child to choose a bird reference of their choice which resulted in the most interesting variety of finished paintings.
kingfisher, 11 year old
Using only the primary colors, along with black, white and raw umber, the kids created their own color palettes and spent a lot of time exploring how to mix color. I gave them time to work on sketching paper to create a composition they were happy with and then gave them some carbon paper to transfer that image onto the acrylic paper.
falcon, 9 year old
They went over that transfer with some charcoal and then began to paint.
songbird, 8 year old
I kept reminding them to pay attention to their brush strokes and pay mind to the many different directions they saw the feathers take on the birds. I also took the time to work with them to discover the shadow and highlights in order to give their paintings dimension.
imaginary bird, 8 year old
I sometimes think kids like to test me to see if I will stand behind what I say, as in the case above. When I presented the project, I told the kids they could paint any bird they wanted. True to form this young boy asked, "anything?" I knew he was up to something by the wry grin he had on his face and when I said, "anything", he said, "even an imaginary bird?"
Why not.
Even an imaginary bird.
He was so excited and was eager to get going on his imaginary bird. As far as I'm concerned, a project is only successful if each child had fun and so if creating an imaginary bird made the project engaging and fun, then imaginary bird it should be!
swans, 7 year old
starling, 7 year old
I strongly encouraged the kids to mix their colors on the paper, such as the greens in the grass and the grey background above. For me, this helps add more interest since they get a variance of color and helps the painting from looking flat. Can you believe 7 year olds created the two above works?!
robin, 10 year old
I'm always harping the motto, "your artwork needs to please only you". I say this almost as much as I say, "there are no mistakes in art, only opportunity". I tell the kids to always please themselves because art is so subjective that it is impossible to please everyone else. If you are happy, then you don't need to worry about the others opinions.
Well the Robin above really made me "walk the talk" on that motto. When the artist finished his bird, it was lovely. To be truthful, I thought it was perfect. But it was obvious the artist did not. It was written all over his face every time he looked at it. He grimaced anytime I held it up and no convincing on my part would change that reaction. And so I asked him, what was it that bothered him so much? He showed me this small place on the blue in the birds neck that he had not matched the color exactly, this is what kept the painting from being great to him. As we were at the very end of the week and out of time to go back and work on it, I asked him if it would be OK if I matched the blue and covered this tiny spot for him. He agreed and when this spot, and it was a spot, matched the rest of the neck, he was happy. Who cares if everyone else had been happy, what was most important was that he was happy.
I was pretty certain the bird, along with his little brothers' swan, would be probably hanging up in their home. (I know I would be hanging them up in my home) And the thought that he would grimace every time he walked by that painting just would not do, so I'm glad together we were able to change that reaction.
night loon, 10 year old
Pretty amazing stuff, yes? As I walked around the room observing the kids while they painted, I was so impressed with them. I mean how great did the above artist capture night? I love the variety of birds created, the way the artists implemented them into an environment, and their general interpretations of creating their subjects.
I think Audubon would be proud.
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