Gold and Black Greek Vases

My quest for multi-cultural art continues, which has led me to a new media combo that I really like. It’s using food wrap paper like this, markers and tempera paint. I actually ran out of drawing paper and tried out this food wrap that was left over from an old project. It makes for a very “breezy” painting that doesn't wrinkle like the others. More tests to continue...

1. I had the students fold their 12" x 12" food wrap paper in half and crease. With a pencil, they could draw half of a large vase, preferably using up as much of the paper as possible. When complete, they traced it with a large, chisel-tip black Sharpie. With the paper still folded, they turned it over to see the lines showing through and traced again. When complete, the opened vase drawing should be symmetrical.

2. They students filled in their vases with decorations of the country, with either figures or plants. I asked them to draw lots of images, trace them carefully with the black Sharpie. Once completed, the negative space around them could be filled in black. The tops, handles and base could be colored or not at their discretion. Care needed to be taken to not rub hands through the marker while it was still wet as smears could occur.

3. When the vase was all colored in, gold tempera paint was spread over the entire vase, but not the background. I had thirty 5th graders do this today in 45 minutes, all with really bold and shimmery finishes. Can’t wait to see them hanging on a line outside the classroom tomorrow.

Positive / Negative Pumpkin

One last Halloween project. This is short and sweet but makes a very graphic image.

1. Give each student a square piece of black paper and an orange that is half the width of the black. With the orange lying on top of the right side of the black, they are to imagine the center line as the middle of a pumpkin.
2. Starting on the middle line, they need to draw half of a pumpkin. Next, one eye and one half of a mouth are drawn. When complete, the eye and mouth are cut out, all as complete shapes, not bits and pieces. I show them how to cheat with the eye by cutting a line over to it and then cutting around to get the triangle out. The little slice will seal itself back up when glued.
3. The newly cut shapes are to be flopped from their cut out positions, and then glued down with a glue stick. Voila, a positive/negative and symmetrical pumpkin face!

A Positively Negative Pumpkin

I tried this today with 2nd and 4th graders, and they both seemed to enjoy the puzzle aspect of making a whole pumpkin from cutting out just a half. I like how this is an example of using both positive and negative shapes, and positive and negative colors.

1. Give each student an 8.5" x 11" sheet of cream paper and a 5.5" x 8.5" black sheet of paper. With my sample, I first aligned the black paper on the left side of the cream.
2. Starting on the middle edge, students draw a large half of a pumpkin. Next, one eye and one half of a mouth are added. When complete, the eye and mouth are cut out, all as complete shapes, not in bits and pieces. I show students how to cheat with the eye triangle by cutting a line over to it and then cutting around to get the triangle out. The little slice will seal itself back up when glued.
3. The negative shape is glued down on the left, and the newly cut shapes are to be flopped from their cut out positions, and then glued down with a glue stick on the right.
4. Finally, the students could add some detail to their pumpkin, using black marker on the cream side, and white colored pencil on the black side.

CA Visual Arts Standard: Grade Four, Creative Expression
2.6 Use the interaction between positive and negative space expressively in a work of art.

Witch Hat Drawing

A Halloween stock art image inspired me to make this witch hat drawing. It would be a good example of using positive and negative space, and a nice place to try layering colored pencils, which not many students are aware they can do.
1. I started with a 6" x 9" piece of black drawing paper. I made a dot on the top center, and drew a hat that touched it and the two bottom corners. A band and star were also drawn in pencil.
2. I traced all the lines with a white Prismacolor pencil, and then shaded in the outside (negative) areas white. Sometimes this is also called “underglazing” a drawing. Note: Crayola pencils will not work for layering, they are not soft enough. Test your pencils before you try this lesson.
3. Orange and yellow pencil color went on top of the white, and also on the band and star. I experimented with adding pressure with all the pencils to get the maximum burst of color.

CA Standards of Visual Arts: Grade Four
2.6 Use the interaction between positive and negative space expressively in a work of art.

Positive/Negative Drawing

The words “positive” and “negative” can be used to describe both shapes and lines. This is a simple exercise which uses examples of both.
1. Give each student a tall white rectangle, and a black piece of paper that is half the size of the white. The black paper is to sit at the bottom of the white paper. Ask the students to draw three lines to make a smaller black square, the top edge being one side. Have the students cut out the square out in one clean cut (not several pieces).
2. Show how the smaller black square is to flip up, matching corners. Glue down the bottom "negative" shape, and the top "positive" square, leaving a "negative" white space open.
3. Now the students may use a black marker to draw a "positive" vase in the bottom empty square, and a white crayon to draw a "negative" bunch of flowers on the black square above.

Abstract Tree Silhouette

This abstract tree makes a really bold image and also offers a lesson is using positive and negative space.

1. Starting with a square piece of paper, the students are to draw a tree trunk and lots of branches. I have a previous post titled “How to Draw a Fall Tree” which offers more tips on tree drawing. The ends of this tree need to extend to the edge of the paper to make closed shapes. I recommend students start with pencil lines, and then trace and thicken them with a black Sharpie marker.
2. When complete, the students are to fill in all the negative spaces around the tree with different colors of oil pastel. This projects could be done with a black crayon and watercolors too.

CA Visual Art Standard: Creative Expression, Grade Four
2.6 Use the interaction between positive and negative space expressively in a work of art.