They are a great last day project because I don't have to worry about sending parents home with anything wet.
The kids created tropical bird pastel drawings to start. There was a lot of questions as to why the paper was black. I love giving the kids the opportunity to discover that you always don't have to draw on white paper and personally, I love how dramatic the black paper makes their drawings look in the end.
9 year old
They first created their sketches on a piece of copy paper with pencil. When they were happy with their sketch, they rubbed white chalk all over the backside of the drawing, then taped it down over the black paper and traced their final sketch. This left a white chalked line drawing on the black paper.
7 year old
They then went over the chalk lines with black oil pastel. If they weren't confused enough by using black paper, why in the world their art teacher was having them then use black oil pastel to make lines on black paper confounded them. But it allows them to see their drawing to add color and reacts in the most beautiful way with the chalk pastel.
4.5 year old
Even when a mistake is made, such as with the above artwork. She was only four and began to color in with the oil pastel instead of the chalk pastel. At first I was just going to have her continue with the oil but she wanted to do chalk like her sisters. Isn't that background beautiful with the chalk and oil pastel combined? There is no way one would guess this was done by a four year old! And there is no way she would of gotten such a complex drawing without that original "mistake"...which leads me back around to my mantra that there really is no such thing as a mistake in art
5 year old
I strongly suggest with the kids that they not blend with their fingers, but use layers of chalk for blending. It's my way of trying to get the kids not to end up looking like rainbows, but also end up with a multicolor layered work.
10 year old
Not that they don't end up multicolored rainbows anyway, but at least I tried.
6 year old
Many blend with their fingers anyway and I don't discourage it since this is about them exploring the pastels and what they can do. I also remind them they can create their own imaginary colored birds too, like the 6 year old work above. I'd like to see a bird like this one in the wild! The big guy upstairs should take note from this lovely created artwork.
5 year old, caterpillar
And then of course just because the suggested subject matter is tropical birds, doesn't mean one has to do tropical birds. Such was the case with the 5 year old who really wanted to draw a caterpillar. The perspective on this blows my mind. And his choice of color for his name? The instincts young children have when it comes to making decisions in their artwork constantly takes my breath away. This art is a perfect example.
In truth, all these pieces are a great example that children instinctively make great choices in their art. When young, they don't second guess their gut responses. When people say adults need to channel the child artist within, what I think they really need to tap into is listening to their gut. Children's work will show you again and again just how right our gut instinct usually is as artist.
That and being fearless and without care of end result. They create for the joy of creating.
How great is that?
This was such a lovely group of children to work with for the week. I was sorry to see camp come to an end. I was so proud of the kids and the work they created during the week of camp. They were open and willing to try many new things. They were kind and supportive of each other. Their parents should be so proud of them.
I know I am.
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