Flowers in a Vase

Hey! I need to tell y’all what happened in one of my art classes last week. Remember I wrote about using red and yellow colored play dough to make orange play dough? Last week when my younger students were finished with their art, I got out the play dough. They remembered how we mixed colors with paint and actually started mixing the primary play dough colors to make the colors they needed! Next they wanted to make brown and mix the three play dough colors and actually got brown! So the lesson can be used to reinforce previous learning and is enjoyable by those older than preschoolers! On to today’s lesson:

Monet painted “A Bouquet of Sunflowers” in 1881. Van Gogh painted his famous “A Vase with 12 Sunflowers” in 1888. There are many other artists who have painted vases of flowers.  Most of us have placed a vase of flowers on a table in our home.  Let’s try drawing one with colored chalk.  The paper you will need should have a little texture called a tooth in art terms. Construction paper, student grade watercolor paper, and pastel paper have a tooth. Chalk can also be erased with a standard pink eraser. It can be smeared for an impressionistic affect like Monet . Dip chalk in milk or water to make an impasto affect like Van Gogh’s art.

Begin by looking at the middle of the flowers. Draw the middle of the flower. Next add the petals. When you draw the flowers, notice they don’t all face forward. When you are finished drawing the flowers, add the vase. Add the stems and leaves last.

Here is a photograph of one of my flowers in a vase:

Here is an example of a chalk drawing of Flowers in a Vase:

Do you need more ideas? Mizz Mac’s blog is www.artforkidsonline.blogspot.com and her website is www.artforkidsonline.com.  Mizz Mac can also be found teaching children’s art classes at the Creative Alternative on Riley Ave in Macon, Ga.