This morning we decided to try painting in the style of Artist Jim Dine. We looked at many of his paintings, especially the heart ones, before we got started.
I told the students that we would not be painting on paper today and asked them to guess what we would be using as our canvas. They couldn’t believe that they were going to paint their desks! We had so much fun finger painting our backgrounds right onto our desks and then taking a print.
While our backgrounds were drying we used styrofoam meat trays to make our hearts. We cut them out and added details using a blunt pencil. Next we used black tempera paint to print our hearts on our backgrounds. After the hearts dried we added details using oil pastels.
This was definitely the most fun we have had doing art and it wasn’t even all that messy 🙂
Jim Dine Hearts on PhotoPeach
Inspiration for this lesson came from a very similar lesson at MaryMaking.
Your take on Jim Dine is so fabulous! What a wonderful idea to have the children paint their desk to make a print. What fun they must have had! And the results are just beautiful! So glad to have stumbled upon you. Off the subject – I have been to Salt Spring Island when I was young. Wonderful memories!
I really liked the idea of painting the desks and I enjoyed looking at all the different hearts and the different designs on the hearts. I would like to see more of your artwork and I am suprised it didnt make much mess.
Dear James,
Thanks so much for leaving us such a great comment. Painting the desks really was a lot of fun. Everyone helped with the clean-up which made it really easy. The students in our class are such great helpers! We have art Friday mornings and we’ll make sure to post our projects 🙂 Do you have a favourite art lesson?
Mrs. W
The hearts looked pretty because they were pink.
Dear Leah,
Thank you so much for leaving us a comment. We had fun making our hearts. Do you have a favourite art project?
Mrs. W
Dear Mary,
Thank you so much for visiting our blog and for leaving us such a wonderful comment! The class had an amazing time painting their desks. They couldn’t believe they were really going to do it. I think it was a favourite lesson for everyone 🙂
You have so many great ideas for art lessons on your blog. We can’t wait to try more of them!
Mrs. W and the 2/3’s
This looks like such a fabulous art activity!! I can’t think of anything that would be more engaging for students! Thank you for posting. You have peaked a new area of interest for me. During my schooling I didn’t get involved in to many art classes, albeit Designs for Learning: Art, at SFU. And during my practicum Art was an explorations course that I didn’t get the chance to teach. I am going to look into ways of incorporating art into other curriculum areas – If you have any ideas please post them as I will check back soon.
Mrs. Lusignan
http://mrslusignan.edublogs.org/