4th Grade Positive Negative painting

Fourth grade is working on positive and negative space.  I like to relate positive space with addition (+) and negative space with subtraction. (-) Relating art to other subjects, like math, keeps students engaged and helps connect the dots on a new topic like positive/negative space.

Week 1:  Students practice both positive and negative space on one paper.

Week 2: After students have practice with Positive and Negative space, students sketch out a negative space animal, person, or place, they trace this object with a crayon to create a wax resist.  I always like to trace drawing with crayon when working with watercolor so the colors don't mix into the white space. The students use black watercolor to create the negative space of the object and will finish them off with colored watercolors next week.

Loon

Owl

Tree

Bunny and Cat

House with both positive and negative space

Tap shoes