In our other Lower Elementary class, we had different time constraints. After a sucessful round of careful, studied portraiture, I wanted to give them the same opportunity to go wild with the face.
Keeping proportions in mind this time, they each drew a face freehand (I told them it *could* be a self-portrait if they so chose). Then, they wrote the numeric form of their birthdays in large numbers, overlapping across the page (e.g. 05/17/09). This created dynamic shapes, which they were then instructed to color in — first, with oil pastels, then, with watercolor.
All colors were available to each child. Their inherent sense of pattern and proportion was their guide. These were done within the space of an hour, and I absolutely adore how they turned out. All the work shown on this page was done by first graders (!)
Elisabeth Wilborn Studio: Artist;Teacher. 