Thursday, May 1, 2014

Thursday Art Club: New Chalk Pastels

My original plan for this Thursday was, admittedly, pretty lame. Let's not speak of it.

That's why I love it when little miracles come into the picture. Imagine my surprise on Monday when I discovered that someone had donated a gigantic bin full of chalk pastels!


I wasted no time putting my fan club to work consolidating our new collection.

And that was all on Monday. 

Today I had a turnout of 20 kids, all itching to get their hands on the new pastels.

In the past we have done colored pencil and oil pastels on dark-colored paper, but the school-grade pencils hardly stood out, and the stainy, messy oils were not suited for younger kids. I would spend more time on mess control than teaching. That's why I am so excited about these!


 On Monday I whipped up a few examples for a little inspiration, and let the kids have at it today.

I took so many photos of the kids' creativity. Too many to post. Their ideas ranged from forests to rivers, sunsets to moonrises, and quite a few loved to draw space. As much as I loved the peace and quiet of last weeks draw-trace-paint project, it's an entirely different to see the room buzzing with ideas from their young minds.



And that's really all the "lesson" was, after showing them a few blending tricks; Reach into your imagination and put it on paper with colors you never could before.



A fellow staff member drew a crowd with his earthscape. The kids couldn't believe it. :)

This one was definitely not as messy as oil pastels, but with 20 kids generating a huge chalky mess, it was still tough to keep under control. But with my "class" numbers dwindling in the recent past, it was great to see this many kids get excited about art the way I am. So who cares about the mess?


The only problem I'm faced with now is how to top myself next week. Definitely something to sleep on...



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