We then discussed the unique technique that Ted Harrison uses in his art work. He makes simple landscapes even simpler. His paintings are mostly in horizontal sections. In the foreground there are people, animals, and other objects. In the background is the landscape that captures the Canadian North. His paintings are made up of brilliant colors, never shaded, and not always naturalistic (deep purple hills and lime green water). The black lines give contrast to the brilliant colors and make the eyes dance.
We then brainstormed our own sentences in the form of A is for... The students each chose a sentence from the ideas generated by the group.
I then had this group of artists sketch a picture, starting with the foreground, then the background, and finally the horizontal lines. We then discussed if their picture was simplistic enough to be successful painting with the tempra paints. If we agreed they were set to paint, if not they sometimes made another one.
I mixed the paints myself, having three shades of each color. The first shade was the original paint, the medium shade was mixed half and half with white, and the light shade was mostly white with a little of the color. If I had more time, I am the Friday teacher this year, I would have had the children do this mixing themselves. Each shade had it's own brush and all the paints were at a central table. As they needed a color they brought that shade and brush to their desks. The children all painted at once. They were not to use the same color in two sections and were to take breaks, doing other activities to let paint dry so it would not run.
The last stage was to add the black lines with fine point permanent markers. The black lines separate the sections and definitely do make the eyes dance! I then had their masterpieces laminated. They did a fantastic job!
