Eeek! Insects jumping from the canvas.

Eeek! Insects jumping from the canvas. Working on canvas creates a very special moment in a child'slife. The atmosphere is electric. For a few hours, kids considerthemselves "real" artists and art-history lessons seepconsciously or unconsciously from brain to hand to brush. The excitementis contagious contagious/con��ta��gious/ (-jus) capable of being transmitted from one individual to another, as a contagious disease; communicable. con��ta��giousadj.1. Of or relating to contagion. and, before you know it, colors and rhythms invade in��vade?v. in��vad��ed, in��vad��ing, in��vadesv.tr.1. To enter by force in order to conquer or pillage.2. everyone's soul. It's a favorite lesson, adaptable a��dapt��a��ble?adj.Capable of adapting or of being adapted.a��dapta��bil to all grade levels andrequires only three sessions. At the end of each school year and withthe fervent help of my husband and children (friends can be recruited,too), we saw, glue and hammer frames galore. Parents volunteer old,thick 100-percent cotton or linen sheets, which are cut, sprayed withwater and stretched over the frames. Then, wide paintbrushes paintbrushessee castilleja. are broughtout and each canvas is primed with whatever my budget allows. Sometimesit's gesso ges��so?n. pl. ges��soes1. A preparation of plaster of Paris and glue used as a base for low relief or as a surface for painting.2. A surface of gesso. , often it's white, indoor, water-based paint. This year's theme was "insects." For the firstlesson the students were asked to bring pictures of insects. Payingspecial attention to detail, they sketched several out of which one wasselected. The insect chosen was then redrawn, but on a sheet of paperthe size of the canvas. They had a choice of either one huge insect as big as the paper ora repetition of the critter all over the surface of the sheet. Thechildren who chose an enlargement enlargement,n an increase in size.enlargement, Dilantin,n.pr See hyperplasia, gingival, Dilantin.enlargement, idiopathic,n made their drawing standing up. Thisgave them a different view of their paper and forced them to draw big!The drawing was then transferred onto the canvas using old-fashionedcarbon paper. The canvases can be placed on simple tabletop easels, but I alsoput them against windows and sometimes simply lay them flat on thetables. For the second lesson, we started with the painting instructions,beginning with the background. The children had to choose a movement tobe followed throughout the background, such as a circle, semicircle orzigzag. They then made the movement they chose with their hands, beforetrying it on the canvas. Next, they had to use two colors at a time without mixing them ontheir paper-plate palettes or on the canvas. I showed them how to placeeach color on the brush. White was not available. When they started onthe insects I suggested they use even more than two colors, but alwaysbeing careful not to mix. I told them I wanted to see the colors theyused. They were encouraged to use a lot of paint. Because I had primedthese canvases with white wall paint, and due to the thickness of thetempera tempera(tĕm`pərə), painting method in which finely ground pigment is mixed with a solidifying base such as albumen, fig sap, or thin glue. , the paint started to crack as it dried and the effect wasincredible. Real insects seemed to jump out from their canvases. Boy,were the kids excited! It was very important to have the children standback from their paintings, see the overall effect, decide what theyliked about it and what needed to be added or changed. At the end of the year, we had a big exhibit and invited theparents to see these wonderful paintings. I can guarantee you that,regardless of the amount of work in getting these canvases stretched,nothing could have been more rewarding than seeing the delight on thechildren's faces as they proudly took them home. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Students will ... * use lines to define and distinguish forms. * use color combinations to emphasize a central idea. MATERIALS * Pictures of insects * Canvases or other heavy painting surface * Tempera * Brushes of different widths * Paper plates * Water containers for cleaning brushes * Paper towels Marie Anne Morgan Dazzi teaches art at Vive l'Art School inCrolles, France.