Pears and apples again??!! The last time, I promise! Actually they are the perfect subject for 3-D value studies, hence their prominence in still life painting. But this week we turned on the color! The kids each received dollops of Red, Yellow and Blue acrylic paint then mixed them together to form secondary and tertiary colors (remember back to the first of the year and the color wheel?). They were challenged to paint a 'Hot' pear and a 'Cool' apple, but could choose which specific colors they wanted to use remembering that there are 'warmer' greens and purples and 'cooler' yellows and reds.
We learned that a dry brush was important to maintain the intensity and thickness of the paint, but that it was all too easy to blend the colors too much so that they lost their individually and become brown. We saw that acrylics are great for building up color, so brush strokes were encouraged as was the overlay of colors. Best of all, however, is that we found out how much we could paint with just Red, Yellow and Blue.
Some people tried their hand at grapes (we added a dollop of white), bananas, oranges and one person even painted a mango! I didn't have enough time to mount and take pictures of all the extras, so you will see them when they get home. Or better yet, ask your child to show you how to paint one of the items in your fruit bowl!
