Art @ IPS

This term the Grade 5 and 6 students have been learning how to develop their creative imagination. We discussed the virtues of still life drawing, that it can improve your technique and help the artist to understand light/shadow and proportion. We also investigated why drawing from your imagination is so important, it’s a way for you to express your emotions and ideas, and allows you to experiment with new materials as you tell a story with your art. 

The students have been learning about French artist Sandrine Pelissier who forgoes the traditional still life drawing of flowers in a vase and instead lets the flowers develop organically. First high flow acrylics and liquid water colour were dropped onto a canvas that had been sprayed with water. This allows the colour to flow and merge and change shape. Alcoholic inks were also dripped around the canvas and appeared to be alive as they spread. Here are some Grade 5 students using droppers with high flow acrylics:

Students have been examining these drops of colour, and much like searching for a shape in the clouds, they have been discovering where the flowers are and how to represent them. They drew a vase or container to hold the flowers and have outlined them in white pencil. Once the flowers are clear in their mind they can paint around the negative space with white paint. Here are some in progress: