Autumn Tree Silhouettes

The 2nd graders learned about what silhouettes are via a PowerPoint presentation. We looked at many examples of where we silhouettes every day. We then examined tree silhouettes a little bit closer. We observed how the line thickness varies on trees. The students started this project by painting a background. The background could be interpreted any way that the student chose to. Some chose to paint sunsets, midnight skies, abstract, geometric, etc. Once the painted background was dry, the students used black paint to create a tree silhouette. They used a variety of brushes to help create a difference in line thickness. They also adjusted their hand pressure for line thickness.

Collages Inspired by Matisse

Our 2nd graders learned about Henri Matisse and his different styles of artwork.  We observed how he "painted with scissors" and then analyzed "The Beasts of the Sea".  The 2nd graders created geometric and organic shapes of all colors and sizes.  We made sure to overlap shapes, to start from big shapes to small shapes, and to have balance. 

Number Paintings

Jasper Johns, Charles Demuth, and Robert Indiana are just a few well known artists that have created number paintings in their careers. Our 2nd graders learned about those three artists and observed their number paintings.  From there, we choose a number 0-9 that was meaningful to us (ie: birthday, age, siblings, favorite number, etc). The students drew out their number and created designs around it with pencil. We also discussed how warm colors advance and cool colors recede.  The 2nd graders used many different colors of tempera paint to carry out their design. Once the paintings were completed, we touched up our line work with permanent marker.