Prep Class, Prep Class, What Do You See?

I see lots of Brown Bears looking at me!!!

We've had so much fun the past few lessons, learning all about the way Eric Carle makes his painted papers for his illustrations and trying the technique out ourselves. First, we shared the book 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See' and enjoyed looking at all his beautiful artwork and reading along with the rhyming words in the book.

Then we talked about Texture (one of the elements of Art) and how Eric Carle makes his illustrations look textured (we came up with words like rough, bumpy, grainy, scratchy etc).  It was then time for us to try making painted paper and there was such a buzz in the room as the children all set to work!  We painted large brushstrokes on our paper first and then added contrasting colours of paint in blobs. Next, we used the paint scrapers, texture wands and skewers to make some interesting effects with the paint.  The children really enjoyed this creative process and there were lots of 'oohs' and 'aahs' to be heard! It was then time for our papers to dry, ready for us to use the next lesson.

During our second session, we had some terrific Grade 5/6 'Art Apprentices' help us (thank you Lachie, Toby and Jaidyn).  We shared out our stack of dried painted papers and then started tracing our bear templates. This was a bit tricky but everyone did such a great job.

Next, we cut out our bear parts and glued them down onto blue card. For some finishing touches, students added noses, paws and hair using black oil pastels and a few had time to make some leaves out of green textured paper we had in the Art room.

Here are Josh R and Kaden's finished Brown Bears up close.  Don't the textured papers look terrific?

There was lots of chanting of "brown bear, brown bear, what do you see..." as we worked! Everyone finished their bears by the end of the second session and I think they look fantastic. I can't wait to make a display of them up in the office.  Well done Preps!