Blooming Into Spring- Crayon Resist (Peer Lesson)

 

 

 



     This project was incorporated into a lesson that taught us about the artist Georgia O'Keeffe.  We learned about the style that this artist uses and the concepts and techniques she incorporates into her artwork.  This project demonstrated the concept of the resistance created by oil pastels with tempera paint.  This was a very fun and creative activity, and I really liked that I got to be messy and make a drastic change to a piece of art.
 
     Instructions:
          1. We began this project by drawing an enlarged flower on a 9"x9" piece of drawing paper with either bright crayons or oil pastels.  I chose to use oil pastels as they are not a medium that I get many opportunities to work with.  We had to make sure to press down with the crayon or oil pastel very hard while completing this first step, to ensure that the later steps would work best. 
          2. The teachers then mixed black tempera paint with water in a plastic cup.  The consistency of the paint was very watery to ensure that it worked best with our project.
          3. We then painted the mixture over the entire flower drawing.  Next, we used either our fingers or a paper towel to move the paint in the direction of the petals and drawing overall. 
          4. The final step was allowing the painting to dry, as the tempera paint over the entire project was very wet when we finished painting. 

    

 



      Extension Activity:
    
   I think this would be a great project to use with either younger or older students in the classroom.  This can be used as an art activity in itself, or can be incorporated into learning about science and mixtures or how things change when added to with another medium.  I think I would probably use this method like in the example I found above with smaller areas of crayon or oil pastel to really show the contrast and differences of the piece when black paint was added.