Art

Mister Seahorse

Foundation

Students viewed a read aloud of the book ‘Mister Seahorse’ by Eric Carle and discussed the illustrations in terms of lines, shapes, colours and textures.

They painted a seahorse in the sea and used some of the art elements discussed in their artwork.

Coloured crayons were used to highlight the main parts of their painting.

Under the Sea

Foundation

The books, ‘Rainbow Fish’ by Marcus Pfister and ‘Bloom’ by Julia Seal were used as inspiration for these artworks.

Students used black crayon to draw pictures of Rainbow Fish. They repeated shapes to create patterns in their artwork. Then students practised mixing tints by adding white to colours before painting in the shapes. 

Oil pastels were used to draw the jellyfish. Students explored the drawing tool by using the side, end and tip to create a range of marks. They pushed, pulled, twisted, dragged and stamped the oil pastels. Then a paint wash was used over the drawing. The aim was for students to use watery paint so that it would wash off the oil pastel and only paint in the background and fill in tiny gaps. 

The Tiny Seed

Grade 3

After watching a read aloud of the book ‘The Tiny Seed’ and discussing the art elements used by the illustrator Eric Carle, students completed their own painting of a sunflower. 

They used warm colours for the petals and cool colours for the stem and leaves. 

Then students added detail to their painting by drawing lines, shapes, patterns and textures with a thin black crayon.

Sunflowers

Grade 3

Following a discussion about Vincent Van Gogh’s painting ‘Sunflower, 1888’, students painted their own still life using ideas from their observation and imagination.

Brighton’s Bathing Boxes

Grade 3

We looked at two paintings by the Sydney artist, Ken Done: 

‘Sydney Sunday, 1982’ and ‘Sunday, 1982’. 

After discussing the art elements (line, shape & colour) Ken Done used in his paintings, students explored some of his ideas in their own mixed media artworks. 

In small groups, students painted different marks with paintbrushes and toothbrushes to create their backgrounds. They completed drawings of bathing boxes and painted them. Finally, paper skills were used for a collage. 

Landscapes and Seascapes

Grades 5/6

Students discussed paintings by the Australian Impressionist artist, Frederick McCubbin. 

They practised using different parts of drawing and painting tools to create a range of marks in their artworks. Using only the primary colours, brown, black and white, students were encouraged to mix their own secondary and tertiary colours, tints and shades, and blend colours too. The illusion of depth was also explored. 

Students painted seascapes (Gr 5) and landscapes (Gr 6) based on their experiences and/or imagination.

Australian Native Flowers

Grade 5/6

Following a discussion about Margaret Preston’s hand coloured woodcut on paper, ‘Sturt’s Desert Pea, 1925’, students created their own stamps of Australian native flowers and practised relief printing on paper.

Still Life

Grade 5/6

Students discussed ‘Sturt’s Desert Pea, 1925’ by Margaret Preston, an Australian artist. 

In small groups, they researched, designed and made a foam stamp of an Australian native flower for printmaking. The focus was on creating shapes, lines, textures and patterns. When the prints were dry, detail was added with a paint pen to emphasise some of the shapes and to draw new ones.

Students completed six canvases, each representing a still life of Australian native flowers in a vase. This collaborative project will be proudly displayed in Sophie’s restaurant.

Visual Arts Teacher

Christine Bernhardt