fourth grade: Georgia O'Keeffe poppies

Every year my 4th grade puts on a beautiful Veteran's Day Musical Performance in November. This year I am hoping to join in on the festivities by making one of the most iconic symbols for remembering; the poppy.

In art, one of the most famous paintings including a poppy was created by artist, Georgia O'Keeffe. My 4th graders each studied her along with some history of why the poppy is so important to us. We talked about how O'Keeffe used exaggerated, vibrant colors, harmonious blending and gradients, as well as ZOOMED IN cropping of her artwork.

Each student made their very own practice poppy in their sketchbook where we studied VALUE.

The next time we met, I introduced to them concentrated liquid watercolor and very special water color paper. We drew our ZOOMED IN poppy drawing and set to work focusing on harmonious blending between red, yellow, and water.

You see that little white cup there? That's salt. The little artists LOVE making "magic" happen with the crystallization of sprinkling a little pinch of salt over their watercolors. We talk a little about the science behind why the salt does this to the colors and then they go to town!