Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Feel Good Color Landscapes

These landscapes were inspired by Art Teacher Cassie Stephen's Claire West inspired landscape lesson. The 4th graders looked at British contemporary artist Claire West's landscapes. She uses colors in unusual ways in hopes of making viewers happy when looking at her work. I love colour and enjoy exploring its contrasts and its vibrant and intense nature. In working in colour I like using colours that are often believed to not work together, in doing this I hope to break down the boundaries of what we should do and explore the freedom that is so often lost in art when we are no longer children.
The 5th graders created a background sky, horizon line and landscape using chalk pastels smudged with liquid starch. It was a little messy but fun and soapy smelling.It's a great way to enhance the look of the pastels and also ensure they are permanent.  Then they added large, medium and small painted fauna to create the illusion of depth in their compositions.