2nd Grade - Complementary Portraits

There was a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, with this lesson.  First, students drew a portrait.  It could be realistic or more abstract - their choice.  Next, they chose just one color (of oil pastel) to color it in.  They got to also use white and black oil pastels to create different values of that one color.  Lastly, backgrounds were painted with it's complementary color.

3rd and 4th Grade - Rene Magritte portraits

Students in my 3/4 combo class discussed Rene Magritte's Son of Man painting as inspiration for this artwork.  They liked how the apple in front of the businessman's face really made them think and wonder why it was there.  They then painted their own portraits, but instead of adding their facial features, they created an object out of oil pastel on a separate piece of paper to glue on top.

6th Grade - Pop Art Self-Portraits

Students began these colorful Andy Warhol-style paintings with a small drawing (6"x6") of themselves.  They used a mirror to get a close look at their own unique facial features.  Once completed, they used the graphite transfer technique to apply their portrait 4 times on the the larger, 12x12 piece of paper.  Next, they applied a different color "family" to each of their portraits; warm, cool, monochromatic and complementary colors.  It was a long process but worth the hard work!

4th Grade - Picasso Portraits

Students learned about Pablo Picasso and other cubist artists during this lesson. They used this style when drawing a portrait. Next, they painted torn tissue paper pieces inside each shape of the portrait using watered down glue. The backgrounds were painted with tempera.

1st Grade - Emotion Portrait Paintings

Students drew 3 portraits portraying the same emotion. The first portrait showed the emotion a little bit, the next a little bit more and the last one showed it the most. They painted colors for their background that also represented the emotion. What a fabulous job they did!