Category: warm & cool colours

Bush Medicine Leaves~ Year 1-2

Students in Year 1/2 were learning about Aboriginal traditions and their use of leaves as medicine from ‘nature’s pharmacy’. We watched a YouTube video explaining various leaves from the bush and their use to treat different ailments. The lesson project is from Japingka Aboriginal Art website which has some wonderful art lesson plans. Check it out!

The lesson looks at the Bush Medicine art of Rosemary Petyarre, and we also looked at an artwork I own, also titled Bush Medicine Leaves by Rosemary Pitjara. We compared the artworks and discussed the movement in each.

We used liquid watercolours to paint a piece of paper in stripes or bands blending the edges, and also a spray of water to further add interest.

Apply liquid watercolours in bands
Add a light spray of water for the colours to bleed!

The black background paper has texture added with paint sponged, scraped and dabbed to create a sense of the bush or forest floor.

Students traced a gum leaf onto card, cut it out and used as a template to trace as many shapes as they could on the back of their watercolour paper. They then arranged these onto the background paper in a way that shows ‘movement’.

Students then used Zart white Perma Pens as a quicker method of dotting around the leaf shapes to highlight them.

Paul Klee Portrait- warm / cool colours (Art lesson for Prep – Yr1)

Paul Klee- Head of a Man

My Prep classes were learning about use of colour to show emotions and feelings, so this activity was a good follow on to learn about warm and cool colours.

Students learnt about what an ABSTRACT portrait is, in particular ‘Senecio’ 1922 by Paul Klee to inspire making a portrait in this style using warm OR cool colours. They used a variety of materials, including: crayon, oil pastel, water colour paints and chalk pastels using various techniques in the process.

First we looked at Paul Klee’s ‘Senecio’ (1922) and discussed the style and type of artwork, the colours, the feelings or emotions the colours might convey.

LESSON ACTIVITIES:

Students used a card circle (from Supermarket pizza packaging) and followed a guided drawing to add the joined eyes, line for the nose and mouth, and shoulders. These lines are traced over heavily with a black crayon. (no smudging!) They then drew lines on the face and body to make sections.

Oil pastels were used to colour the eyes. Water colour pallet paints were used to paint the sections and can be used with varying intensity- more water for a lighter colour value) We discussed that pink is also a warm colour because it is made using red (with white.)

For the background the students use chalk pastels on the side, then spreading and smudging the colour with their finger to fill the space.

Full lesson plan available with learning intention, success criteria, discussion questions, process and techniques. Self assessment rubric for students.

AUD $2 email download for this lesson plan