Elementary Art: Mixing Color/Pointillism

Hi Everyone! If you don’t know me, my name is Amanda Abbott. I am an art educator in the tri-state area. With all of the crazy things happening in life right now that we are unsure of, we have to stick to the things we know. I want to create some fun project that parents can do with their kids at home. I am going to try to use materials that are cheap and possibly things you have around the house already. These are projects that you can explore together. My goal is to make one every day until this crisis is over. I hope you enjoy and participate! Let me know if you have any questions or feedback.

Materials

These are the supplies you will need for this project.

-Primary Colored Paint (Acrylic or Tempera)

-White/Black Paint

-Paper (You could even try foil!)

-Paper Plate or Pallet

-Q-Tips

Primary Colors

The primary colors are the three colors that cannot be created by mixing other colors together. These three colors are red, blue and yellow. When you put them on your plate, make sure you leave a little space in between each one.

Red + Yellow = Orange

Allow your kids to mix red and yellow together. They will start to see how these two colors create orange.

Yellow + Blue = Green

Then let them mix yellow and blue.

Red + Blue = Purple

Now mix red and blue. (Sometimes adding white helps because red and blue are both darker colors)

A Full Pallet

Now you have all of your colors mixed and ready to go but there is one more thing you can do. If you put white paint in the middle of your plate you can allow your kids to see what happens when you mix those colors with white.

A full range of colors/tints

A tint is a mixture of a color with white.

Pointillism

Pointillism started in the mid-1800s. It was pioneered by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac. This was a time when painters were trying to figure out new methods. This method took a more scientific approach by adding color theory. It was the start to the Neo-Impressionist movement. These artists used a method of applying dots of paint in patterns to form an image.

Patterns

A pattern is essentially something that repeats over and over. When I teach my students about patterns, we talk about what kind of things make patterns. I’ve heard kids say lines, shapes, or even dance moves. It is encouraged to dance a little if that comes up. Once you talk about it you can show them different things you can do with patterns. Rotate a line vs a dotted line. Rotate a circle with a triangle. Get them thinking about different things they can do. I strongly suggest letting them create patterns using dots on a sheet of paper or even a shiny piece of foil to get the hang of it.

Create Something Real

Now that your kid has played with some abstract patterns, have them think of something they enjoy. They can create animals, landscapes, bodies of water, or even sunsets.

Outlines

This is where the black paint comes in! Artists love outlines. Outlines are lines we create around what we are drawing. Most often these lines are black but the don’t always have to be. You can create outlines using any color. Artists like to use them to separate things in their picture.

A Beautiful Butterfly

Butterflies also bring up things like symmetry. You can talk about things that are symmetrical. Look around the room and point something out. You could also talk about the difference between warm and cool colors. Why are those colors considered warm vs cool? These are just things to think about.

The Final Product

I hope you guys enjoyed this project. There will be more to come so make sure to check in again soon!