Lessons From The Past

Pollack And Friends

Swing Painting or ( Fishing)

Large Butcher Paper, Tempera Paint, Paintbrushes and String.

The last two classes were inspired by my favorite artist Jackson Pollack. I brought in some books and pictures of his artwork and we discussed his process. How Mr. Pollack made his lines, splats and dots. This was a group project so I had the kids stand over the paper and swing their paintbrushes over the paper. After a while we sat on our knees and just had fun.

I cut string and taped it to the end of the paintbrush making it almost like a fishing rod. Oh My! Was this project messy. But the kids had so much fun. First they swung, then they dotted, some would drop their brush in the paint swing it out to the paper and drag it in. It was hard to keep track it was amazing watching the kids each develop their own technique. Amazing what a kids will do if you just give them a paintbrush on string. Haha

As you can imagine I definitely had to direct this project more then the others. But when all was said and done. Wow it was a real masterpiece! It really was a Pollack inspired painting. Jackson would be proud!

More Splatting!

We did some marble rolling. Placing marbles in cups of paint, scooping them out with spoons and rolling them in cardboard boxes.

What's great is that your always learning. I had to take a step back and remember that with every great artist, once the creative juices get flowing there is no holding back. Sometimes you have to let go and at the end you'll be surprised at the beauty you behold.