SchoolArts - March 2008

for another type of clown face. I told them to make the face as big as their own.

Next, we added expressive eyes, eyebrows, and mouths. We added silly hairstyles and costumes using big, bold patterns. Some students had room to draw a full-size figure and some chose to draw just the upper portion of the body. Some students added details to the background of the picture in keeping with the circus theme.

Second Class

During the next lesson, the portraits were colored with oil pastels. I taught students how to press down hard on the soft pastels to get a paint-like surface. Some experimented with the paint-like blending qualities of the oil pastels. More excitement ensued as they saw the results of the vibrant oil pastels on the bold colored paper. These were way better than crayons!

Third Class

The last lesson was spent perusing a tray of paper scraps, buttons, silk flowers, pom-poms, etc. The expressive clowns were transformed into collages using paper scraps for hats, buttons for eyes, pom-poms for noses, etc. I used a hot glue gun to glue on the pom-poms and silk flowers. Students glued everything else with school glue.

Conclusion

The students were quite pleased with their accomplishments and we displayed them under a big, colored paper big top display in our hallway. The lesson reinforced an understanding of portraiture, the expressive nature of the human face, and the experimental qualities of oil pastels and collage. It was a memorable way to reinforce the art of self-portraits and portraits!