The Joy of Mixing Paint...

We had a simply wondrous time this week in the atelier as our students experienced mixing paint in a variety of ways!  Students discovered what a palette is and how to use one, and students also learned how two colors of paint can turn into another through trial and error (as well as through a proper guided discovery!).

Our kindergartners are very independent and have been showing mastery when using many artists' materials; so this week we tried out "paint centers."  In the general classroom, students have choice time- a time of day when they can select what they would like to do (centers include art, writing, science, listening and math - along with many others).  In the atelier, I set up the studio with three centers - one using watercolor paint on the light table, another as a guided discovery with myself on mixing tempera paint, and finally a table with black and white paint.

Kindergarten really enjoyed moving from center to center - and although there was much movement, conversation and thinking occurring, the atelier became a calm space for paint exploration.  At the light table, students watched as the paint became illuminated by the light underneath.  Some students even remembered that watercolor paint has a transparent property, and discussed how the light "shined" through the paints.  At the black and white painting table, students learned about contrasting colors and opposites.  Students created a "series" of the same painting - one with white paint on black paper and white paint on black paper.  All students were eager to try mixing paints and worked with me to mix two primary colors together.  Students also received white to create tints - many really wanted to know how pink was made!

PreK 3 and PreK 4 students also mixed paint- but had the chance to mix colors with modeling clay before mixing the liquid paints.  We examined the works of Jackson Pollock, Henri Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian and Paul Klee - and some of us even tried painting our own representations of their works.

Next week we will continue to examine color - but with paper!  I can't wait to see what collages our students create!

Students experiment with various transparent materials in the light center