- Working with warm and cool colors
- Planning use of the whole paper
- Painting wet paint over dry paint
warm color, cool color, advance, recede, prop
YOU WILL NEED
- White drawing paper or manila paper cut into 10-inch squares
- Liquid tempera paints
- Trays for mixing paint colors (Styrofoam trays from the grocery store work well)
- Brushes
- Containers of water for rinsing brushes
- Sponges for drying brushes
First Session
Preparation
- Set out pencils and paper.
- Set out tempera paints, brushes, mixing trays, containers of water, and sponges.
- Paint a piece of paper and let it dry. This will to used to demonstrate the process of applying wet paint over dry paint.
- Talk about the characteristics of the sun—shape, color, and rays—which make it immediately recognizable. Explain to the children that they will be making paintings of suns with personalities by giving them facial features, designing the rays, and adding props or objects that help to describe the characters.
- Show how wet paint can be applied directly over dry paint by adding details to the dried demonstration paper. Explain that using this process makes adding painted details easier. For example, it is simpler to paint a whole sky blue and then dab on stars, than to paint stars and try to go around each one with blue. Explain that, in this session, the children will be covering their papers with a first layer of color.
- Discuss the difference between warm colors (reds, oranges, and yellows) and cool colors (blues, greens, and purples). Warm colors tend to advance or stand out in a painting, while cool colors tend to recede or fall back. Painting the background with a cool color will make the warm color of the sun stand out even more, while filling the background with a warm color will give us the sense of the heat radiating from the sun.
- Have the children draw their suns with pencils. Emphasize that the designs should fill the whole paper. Explain that when the first layer of paint is applied, the pencil lines will disappear. Therefore, details such as facial features should be added in the next session.
- When their drawings are completed, have the children begin painting the first layer of color on the suns and the backgrounds.
- Set the paintings aside to dry.
Preparation
- Set out the dried paintings and the demonstration paper.
- Set out tempera paints, brushes, mixing trays, containers of water, and sponges.
- Tell the children that, in this session, they will be adding facial features and details to their paintings.
- Demonstrate again the process of painting wet paint over dry paint. Explain that when painting on top of dried paint, it is important to dry the brush well when rinsing between colors. Too much water will re-wet the dried paint underneath, causing it to mix with the new color. To avoid scrubbing, which will also re-wet the dried paint underneath, the children should dip their brushes often into the paint.
- Have the children add facial features, rays, designs, and any necessary props to their paintings.
- Set the paintings aside to dry.
- The thick, opaque quality of liquid tempera paint makes it easy and satisfying to use. It is also necessary for the process of painting wet paint over dry paint to be successful.
- It is easier for the younger children to paint the rays of their suns directly on top of the background color instead of trying to paint around each ray.
- The strength of this project is in the variety of suns when they are put together in a display. Square-shaped paper makes it easy to create a bright, cheerful, and inviting bulletin board.
- Do the suns fill the papers?
- Discuss the personalities created by the faces in the suns.
- Compare the effects of the warm and cool colors.
- My sun is so bright it needs sunglasses.
- My sun is small because I need room for my very long rays.
- Oops! I painted stars in the sky and it’s daytime.
- My sun fills the paper. Do I have to add rays?
- Can my sun be dressed like a pirate?
- Using props to show us the heat of the sun is a great idea.
- Since your sun is small, making long rays is a good way to fill your paper.
- The cool color of your sky really makes the warm color of your sun stand out and the added stars are fun.
- You as the artist can decide whether to include the rays, but it’s important that we easily recognize the sun.
- The sun dressed like a pirate...that sounds adventurous.
