Day 4

Day 4 was the best day so far!! I woke up nervous about my first day actually working with the students. I was unsure if I would get what I wanted to say across, and with my history of public speaking even an elementary school class and a few teachers made my palms a little sweaty. I spent the morning going over my lesson plan and thinking of different things I could show them how to paint and what they should expect to see coming from their paint brush. at 12:30 I made my way over to the classroom, they were working on spelling and syllables. I was so impressed with how quick they all were my nerves were instantly gone, and I had realized that I picked a good class to work with. After a lesson about descriptive words and independent reading it was my time to shine. I decided that today I was going to have them all paint a field of red flowers. This way I could see the kinds of skills I would be dealing with. Before I gave them their supplies I showed them the difference between specific and suggestive painting. I showed them the "Mona Lisa" by the famous Leonardo DaVinci and then I showed them a painting of a woman painted by Pablo Picasso.

Mona Lisa

Picasso

 They thought the contrast was really funny and I liked how that was a good ice breaker. I then showed them some of my own art to give them an example of how everyone does not have to be the same. I also told them about how all of the impressionist painters were  not famous while they were actually working, later on in their life (and some after death) became famous so who knows, one of them could be the next Cezanne. After my little lesson I handed out the canvas and got the paint ready. I let them know that you can always add more paint but you can never take it away. I also told them how you never want to be pushing paint around because that never ends well, lastly I told them to always know when to stop... that is one of the hardest parts of being an artist because most of us are perfectionists, however if you work past the point of no return your pieces will suffer and they will not be as good as they would have been if you had just listened to that little voice in your head. Those are some great rules and guidelines I learned while studying on Euro... although they sound easy it is harder than it sounds and many artists suffer from it. I really liked how I could see the contrast of their precious minds and I really like how they were so open to me teaching them and I can't wait to go back tomorrow! Here are some pictures of some of the students working on their fields of red flowers....