Looking Closely, Painting Details

Since our return from Easter break, the students have painted many different flowers: tulips, Gerbera daisies, chamomile. Each child looks closely and makes a choice as to how to represent the size and shape of the plant.

We have been able to observe and paint one plant as it grew and blossomed, a hyacinth. First, the children focused on replicating the curving shape of the glass container and the height of the stems.

Using a detail brush to stipple (make small dots) they added the many hyacinth flowers clustered around a stem.

As the plant continued to grow and a second stem blossomed, we continued our observational art study. In the second painting the children paid close attention to the bulb and roots below the stems.

In this season we are asking children to look closely, notice details, and consider how to express similarities and differences using their art and their words.