#24 Sandpaper Prints
Grade Level: 3-6
Description/Objective
Students make prints based on their observation of cloud shapes and colors. The Impressionist artist's use of warm and cool colors to show light and shade is incorporated into the lesson.
Time
45 Minutes - 1 Hour
Materials
Photographs of clouds (include a variety of cloud types, in different weather conditions, with their names)
Impressionist landscape prints (Monet and Van Gogh are samples - available at the library)
Wax crayons divided into warm colors (red, orange, yellow, pink, violet) and cool colors (blue, green, purple, light blue, aqua) (1 set per student)
4" x 6", 20 extra fine grit sandpaper (1 per student)
9" x 11" white construction paper (1 per student)
Paper towels (1 roll)
Iron - set on "wool"
Procedure
1. Display photographs of stormy clouds and clouds in blue skies.
2. Discuss similarities and differences in clouds as regards to shapes, colors, and areas of light and shadow. Allow time for close inspection and observation.
3. Ask students to squint and look at shape in between clouds (negative space).
4. Display prints of Impressionist landscapes that include cloudy skies. Monet and Van Gogh are two examples of artists whose work would be relevant.
5. Discuss the variety of colors these artists used in their clouds and sky.
6. Ask students to look for areas in the painting that look like they are in sunlight. Often these areas will include warm colors like red, orange, and yellow. Then have students look for areas in shade, often including cool colors like blue and violet.
7. Have students imagine a cloudy sky and draw it on sandpaper with crayon. Students should fill the sandpaper with color, pressing moderately hard with crayon.
8. Challenge students to create the illusion of sunlight and shade by using warm and cool colors. Demonstrate on the board.
9. Finished drawings are placed face down on white paper, covered with a paper towel and ironed by teacher or with teacher supervision.
10. The image will transfer onto the paper and have a speckled effect.
Subject Matter Integration
MATH: Divide the class into three groups. Each group looks for things that are warm colors and things that are cool colors. The three groups should look in three different places, one could look in the classroom, one in the lunchroom, and one out on the playground. They list how many things they find in each group that are warm colors and how many are cool. The results of all three groups are combined into a bar graph.
Variations/Extensions
1. The same materials are used to make prints of trees at different seasons of the year. Focus on how the colors and the shapes of trees can change with the seasons.