Grade 3/ Day 3

#1 This week we made portraits using the art form of drawing techniques. We took a piece of paper and split it portrait way. We then chose two of the four artists we learned about. The four artists we learned about were Mondrian whose style was straight lines, with some of the squares coloured in using only primary colours. Matisse whose drawings were very colourful. Picasso whose drawings with abstract and unusual, usually consisted of splitting up the artwork into multiple pieces and rearranging it slightly. Picasso used bring colours. The last artist was Van Gogh who used short little brush strokes over top of each other to create his drawings he used multiple colours as well. For my portrait I chose to use Van Gogh and Mondrian. I split my page in half, and on the left I used Van Gogh’s technique of little brush strokes accept we were using oil pastels. On the right hand side I decided to use Mondrian’s technique of straight lines and primary colours.

#2 In today’s art lesson I learned about two new artists, Mondrian and Matisse. I am not very informed when it comes to different artists and their techniques but after todays lesson I feel confident in all four now. I also realized that Van Gogh’s method is very time consuming compared to the other artists techniques.

#3 I have communicated the idea that drawing can be unique to each individual person. We were told to draw a face but we were not instructed on what face to draw. At the end of the lesson I saw that some classmates had done self portraits and they really looked like them even with the new artist techniques. Other classmates made actions figure faces and superhero look a likes, it really allowed students to express themselves and have freedom while drawing. Expression was shown through each individuals portrait and could have communicated how one was feeling, I used a lot of warm colours because I was feeling loved and happy that day. Maybe someone else was feeling a little bit sad or angry and used blacks and grey to expression their feelings. 
#4 The part I liked most about this project was the freedom of choice I had, I got to know 4 artists then I had the opportunity to choose 2 I liked the most or found the most interesting. This made me more engaged with the portrait drawing. The part I liked the least was the oil pastels, I found they were very messy and hard to blend together nicely when using Van Goghs technique.
#5 To change this project I would allow students to have a choice of what materials they use to draw their portrait such as paint and brushes, crayons, pencil crayons, or oil pastels. I also would have allowed for students to explore the artists on their own a little more through books or researching on the internet, so they can get a better feel for the artist.