top of page
Search

Saturday Art: Life Size Figure Painting

Updated: Jan 29, 2019

This week during Saturday Art, we focused on movement, colors, and the feelings that go along with them. We started by looking at some of Keith Haring’s work. We talked about the colors we saw, and what the figures looked like they were doing: “I think they’re dancing”, “those two are hugging!”. We posed in the positions we saw in the pictures, and talked about how the people in the painting probably felt: “I think they feel happy!” Why is that? “Because they are dancing, and there are happy colors” What colors do you see? “red, yellow” “I see green in the jumping one!”

After we finished with this exercise for inspiration, we started on our project: life size self-portrait figure paintings. First we practiced making poses that we liked, that went along with a feeling or idea, such as dancing, happy, jumping, etc. Then, each student laid down on a large piece of paper, and assumed their pose. We traced their figure onto the paper. Once everyone was ready, the real fun began.



Each student got a paintbrush, and a shared paint container, with lots of colors. Their next step was to paint their figure, however they liked. The students were so engaged with this that they worked diligently for the next hour.

They started making observations as they painted: “When I mix the yellow and red I get orange!”, “I put too much paint here and my paper got a hole”, “I need to wash my brush so the colors don’t mix’. There was laughing, lots of movement, and lots of sharing going on. Some students felt very proud of their work, and asked for their picture to be taken with their painting.



We ended class by talking about how their work would be hung in the student exhibition in two weeks. They were excited to learn that their artwork would hang in the halls, just like in an art gallery.


1 view0 comments
bottom of page