Complementary Colors, Neutral Colors, and Irregular pattern

Fourth grade is working with complementary, and neutral colors. Complementary colors are directly across from each other on the color wheel.

Students drew their initials in bubble or block lettering and colored the inside with both an irregular pattern and using complementary colors. An irregular pattern is like camouflage. Students used crayons to color in their initials.

Regular pattern

Irregular pattern

Students cut an irregular pattern around their paper,

And began coloring around initials with oil pastels.

The neutral colored pastels make the complementary colors pop out.

Students then glue their finished work onto a black background paper. 

Starry Night

Each month in school, numerous papers get lost somewhere between the classroom and the hands of loving parents.  Well, here is one project ALL students get excited about painting and even about showing their teachers and family.  First graders have been spending the past three art classes working on one of the most recognizable paintings in the world, Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh.

Day one was spent as a drawing day, students planned out how to separate the stars, wind, tree, hills, and houses in the way that Van Gogh did with his painting.  After drawing with pencil, students outlined their lines with crayons, the crayons create a wax resist when they add water colors, making the crayon look even brighter.

After putting down the crayons, students picked up a brush and added water color to their starry landscape.

Color wheel collage

Third grade is working with the color wheel and learning more about intermediate colors. Students will create a color wheel with six separate color groups and begin to show a few examples of intermediate colors between the primary and secondary colors.  Students look through one magazine, trying to find enough color to fill each color group.  This helps with recognition of intermediate colors for some students who need real world examples for them to comprehend the color. 

Students traced a circle for the shape and used a ruler to create six equal sections and mark those sections with what colors they will soon be filling.

Supplies:  glue, magazines, paper, circle tracer, ruler, scissors.