This year I am teaching two classes in our home school co-op: 3/4th and 5th-7th. So far I have done the same lessons for both classes. The kids are a delight, and I enjoy sharing my love of art with them.
This project on optical illusion was paired with another lesson on basic drawing tricks of optical illusions. I found this lesson on-line, but have done it before in my classes. Here is the
blog link.
The first day of class, we made name tags to set at their places. This helps me to learn names. This idea was also found on-line. The process is to write out the letters of the name in capitals that touch the top and bottom of the page edges. This forms negative space between letters.We copied over the letters in black marker. Black crayon or oil pastel would work too. Then we talked about patterns and drew a few on the board. Each negative space was to be filled in with a different pattern using color crayons.
The final step was to paint each negative space with watercolor. We talked about pattern, line, resist, negative space, transparent-vs-opaque.
I loved how these turned out. A good successful project for all.
One week I was gone and my assistant teacher taught this lesson, again touching on making things look 3-D on a flat surface. We did not get any photos, but these two were from the "tutorial" I sent her. I've done this one before, too. the links are
here and
here.