Early Childhood

The Essential Question
How can we communicate mood and atmosphere in a nonrepresentational drawing?

Objective
Students will use nontraditional mark-making techniques to create an abstract impressionist painting.

Materials
acrylic paint, paintbrushes, paint palettes, half-filled balloons (one per student), canvases (one per student)

Procedures

1. View examples of impressionist art, in particular, atmospheric paintings by Monet. Ask students how the paintings make them feel. What is seen and what is unseen? What kinds of colors did the artist use and why?
2. To prepare for the activity, tape canvases to the surface of a covered table so they donʼt move during painting.
3. Have students choose various colors of acrylic paint and add them to a paint palette.
4. Using a balloon, demonstrate various painting techniques. Apply paint to the balloon with a brush, then stamp, spin, and drag the balloon against the canvas for different results.
5. Students experiment with the methods above, using their balloon as a paint applicator to create abstract works of art.

Sue Liedke is an art teacher at Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.