The new school year has meant a new list of topics. Molly came home full of the art they were doing. She had trouble saying Kandinsky but I worked out who she meant. She described the art they did in class with drawing straight lines and circles crossing over.
I thought the Farbstudie Quadrate would be good to study at home. The colours are very appealing for children and the bold simple pattern is easy to replicate. In fact it is hard to find a real version of the image as there are so many “Kandinsky for kids” versions on google!
We had a look at the picture and talked about these questions.
- How does it make you feel?
- How was the artist feeling when they made it?
- What colours can you see?
- How do the colours make you feel?
- How do you think Kandinsky made this artwork?
- How many circles can you count?
- Kandinsky said “Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.” What sort of music do you think inspired this art?
We chose four colours to use for our art. They were similar tones to the original artwork. We cut them into squares, then three different sized circles. This was great cutting practice. I didn’t worry too much if they were a bit wonky or uneven – although a few which ended up too small didn’t get used.
We used a large piece of brown paper for wrapping parcels. Molly was busy sticking the shapes on. She wanted to cover the whole paper with shapes.
We built the picture up using one of each colour each time but not worrying about making a pattern.
The final picture, while lacking the vibrancy of the original, looks good. It actually makes a good piece of art to put in a playroom or bedroom. I generally prefer kids to have a bit of opportunity for self-expression, which there wasn’t really in the project.
Our art hung in the hall for all one evening. It was then rolled up and very proudly taken to school and hasn’t been returned yet. It actually reminds me of my student flat as we had the print in our sitting room.
This bright and colourful Oil Pastel Art from Nurturestore.
To find more artworks for kids check out Get Arty on Red Ted Art
I also have a Pinterest board you could follow for Art for Kids