Oil Pastel on white paper, painted over with diluted blue tempera.
I bought chrysanthemums and had them in planters and vases on the tables. I'm sorry I didn't get pictures of the students working during this process.
These paintings are vibrant and sweet at the same time.
A few words about developmental perception. Children often attach their artistic expression around certain behaviors influenced by their peers. Examples would be stick people, bug people, suns in the corner of the paper, a blue stripe for the sky, a green stripe for the earth, v-shaped birds, and five petaled flowers.
While I modeled (with restraint so as not to impose my style into their style) how to construct a chrysanthemum, students demonstrated some problems with their perception that is reinforced by the creative influences of their peers. Students want all the flower stems to show, and sometimes they would bend the stems around other flowers, or they would draw stems that seemed to begin or end in inconceivable places.
This year I have talked a lot about the invisible composition and implied line. What I love the most about these discussions is seeing the thunderstruck expressions on the faces of those who "get it." Also, I love the excited energy that is born out of their having acquired greater clarity in seeing objects.
