Paint and weaving

Year 3 children used paint mixed with wall paper paste, which produces a thicker paint consistency.  They used toothbrushes, milk bottle lids, scrapers, and the pointy end of the paintbrush to make patterns on 2 sheets of A3 paper.

 Once dry one of the sheets were cut into strips.  The children used these strips to weave somewhere on their artwork.

Koru patterns

Year 1 students drew koru shapes onto card which was cut out and used later as a stencil.  Each child had a large piece of paper in which they applied paint to and then using coloured PVA paint in bottles  drew spirals and dots. Their stencil was then used on  the dried paper.  The koru shapes were cut out and glued onto black backing.

Tree watching

Year 3 students looked carefully at the trees in the school grounds.  They discovered that the trunk looked very thick and further up the tree the branches got thinner and were sometimes hard to see because of the leaves.  The students transferred this onto paper using pencil and just drew the trunks.  They learnt about shades and tints and used a blotting motion with the paint brush when adding the leaves.  They finally took photos of each other, deciding how they wanted to be looking up at the tree.  These photos were printed out and glued onto the completed art work.

Flower tints

Year 3 children worked on repeating patterns using black vivid in a flower shape.  They also learnt how to tint a colour, the loading of paint onto the brush and application of it.
These pieces of art can be displayed individually or as a group.

Ocean Creatures

Year 2 children learnt how to make a silhouette.  From their sketchbooks they selected their two favourite outlines, which were then drawn onto black paper.  We then discussed tints and practiced onto a piece of paper.  Once they were confident with tinting a colour they began applying paint to a A3 piece of paper.  The children gave their finished painting a coat of PVA glue, which becomes shiny when dry. They then decided on the placement of their sea creatures and glued them in place.
Because I wanted a watery look to the finished piece I decided to laminate them.

Cats on Calico

 These lovely cats were painted by Year 3 students.  We sketched many cat shapes and angles.  The children selected their favourite cat and enlarged it onto their piece of calico.
They outlined the pencil in black permanent pen.  I demonstrated how to apply paint to their brushes and also how to apply it to fabric.  I used acrylic paint and not the fabric paint, as this was not an item that would be washed and it didn't need setting.
The children needed to go over their painting several times to fill in the white spaces that appeared.
Finally they used a small amount to black on their brushes to shade areas.

Year 2 Landscapes

These lovely landscapes were painted by Year 2 students using black and white paint.  The children drew landscapes and mixed different tones.
The plants were added using black vivid pen.  
To give the finished work a shine we added slightly watered down PVA glue that dries clear and shiny.

School Panels

Year 6 students studied examples of symbols used in artworks.  They used digital cameras to take photos of objects around the school.  The students practiced in their sketch books ways of representing the photos as a symbol or shape.

They divided a canvas into separate parts and drew objects that they felt made our school special.
Extensive painting then took place, with each child writing a passage which explained their artwork.

Frogs

 Year 1 students were reading a book called Lester and Clyde.  From that story we looked closely at drawing a frog shape.  The frogs are outlined in black and then green paint was applied .  The backgrounds are painted blue and the children used coloured paper to complete the lilly pads and dragonflies.

Butterflies

Butterflies
Year 3 students sketched and designed the patterns they wanted inside their butterfly.
We began with a cardboard cylinder for the body and thin wire for the wings.  The wire needed to be pushed through the cardboard  and taped onto the inside.
The children papier mache the body and wings with layers of newspaper and newsprint. The last layer was newsprint.  The papier mache had to be wrapped around the edges of the wings and connected the body to the wings.
Once these were dry the children began to paint them.  They took a couple of coats for the first colour.   Finally they used PVA black glue to add detail and to make their design stand out.  They were varnished and made a great display on the wall.

New Zealand Birds

 New Zealand Birds
Year 6 students looked at different NZ birds and their surroundings.  They sketched the bird onto A3 paper adding part of the surroundings.  We also observed Maori patterns and how they could add these to their art work.  Once these were all penciled into place ,we had several sessions on use of the paint brush, loading the paint, and mixing of colours.
The students completed their piece with black detail using pens.

Robots

Year 2 Robots
Each student was given sheets of different shapes for the head, body, arms and legs of robots.  They practiced these and sketched their own robot.  We enlarged these onto A3 paper and outlined in black.  The next lesson consisted of mixing black and white paint to make a grey metal colour.  The children painted most areas of the robot grey except the eyes, mouth and any buttons.  Yellow, red and orange paint were used for these.  
The final lessons looked at where the light source would be coming from and they used dark blue paint for the shadow on one side of the robot.  Once they were cut out and mounted onto colour paper, the children added charcoal along the edge of the shadow and  blended it in.