Term 3 session 4

After a warm-up drawing grid pictures we got onto discovering positive and negative shapes. Some children realised straight away that the space around an object is the negative space/shape and the object is the positive one.
The children chose an object and drew it as a positive shape. By the results this was do with the left hand brain, you could tell what the object was but is was not accurate. Next they drew the air around the object (the negative space) and coloured in the space leaving the image of the object blank. This was just done with pencil. To encourage the children to be bolder in applying the lines and colouring, we then used indian ink and wooden skewers. The negative shapes they produced were far more accurate.

By concentrating on the negative space the left hand brain is quiet (does not like this concept of thinking) and the right brain does the observing. I am thinking that by using indian ink (an unfamiliar medium) the left brain can not cope allowing the children to really concentrate on the spaces.

Continuing with using the picture planes we drew a portrait of each other and transferred them onto graphite paper. This was a challenge for some, but the final product also showed me I need to do teaching on shadow and light, and the shape and construction of facial features.

The initial sketching on the collaborative murals have nearly been completed. The children have decided on how they are going to colour them. Progress...