BASIC ART VOCABULARY
Primary Colors: Red, Blue and yellow on the colorwheel.
Secondary Colors: Children in first and second grade begin to learn how to create secondary colors or purple (red and blue), orange (yellow and red) and green (blue and yellow).
Neutral Colors: Black, White, Gray, Brown...the earth tones.
Analogous Colors: "Next door neighboors" on the color wheel. The Primary is always listed first. Yellow-Green (grass green), Red-Orange (firecracker red), Blue-Green (Turquoise), etc..
Complementary Colors: Colors opposite each other on the color wheel. The opposite of Blue is Orange, Red/Oreen, Yellow/Purple. When you mix these two colors together they turn to mud or a slightly less attractive grey.
Value: Darkest dark to lightest light of a color.
Composition: The artist must think about line, color and rhythm to create a composition. In elementary school lessons, this can be where to put the horizon line, which colors to use to create light and dark spaces and even where to place an object.
Horizon Line: Where land meets the ocean or where sky meets land. The horizon line can be near the bottom of the page, in the middle or even at the top.
Positive/Negative Space: How much room an image takes up on a page (positive space). The space leftover is the negative space (often the background). A hard one for younger children to understand, so it’s best to leave this concept for upper grades.
Oil Pastel Resist: Using a crayon or oil pastel (don’t confuse with chalk pastel) to create a waxy barrier to resist watercolor paints. Some wonder if tempera paint achieves the same effect as watercolor. If you water the tempera paint down a lot, then yes. But this techniques works best with watercolor paints.
Media/Medium: Refers to the art supplies/materials used in art. Basically media is used for more than one item and medium refers to one item. Mixed Media? More than one material is used: oil pastel, paint, different techniques, etc.
Directed Line Drawing: A drawing that uses specific instructions given by a teacher to the students. I use directed line drawings in many of my grades to teach a basic drawing skill. Often, students and I will do a drawing together and then they will create their own. Many art teachers frown on this technique but I think it empowers kids. Having said that, it’s a good idea to teach all types of drawing techniques, but if you are new to art, directed line is a great place to start.
Free Expression: The chance to draw from one’s memory. This is a hard lesson to teach, but it is important to allow for free expression art whenever you can.
Observation: Drawing from observation allows the child to observe an item (still life) and draw the shapes that he sees.
BASIC ART SUPPLIES
I love paint. Nothing screams kid’s art like paint. There is an unexpected quality that happens through this medium and I love it. If you browse through my art lessons, you’ll notice that many feature paint. I use two basic paints in my art class; Tempera Paint and Watercolor Paints. Let’s break it down a bit more.
Tempera Paints Tempera Paints come in cake form and liquid form. Liquid tempera comes in bottles and have a pudding-like consistency straight from the bottle. This is sometimes what you want but mostly, it’s useful to add a small bit of water to the tempera paint. Add water in small doses and stir until you get a smooth consistency. Should feel like thick cream. Of course, you’ll need a palette to pour your paint into and I like plastic plates.
Cake temperas look like big, watercolor tablets. The circles are about 2″ wide and need to be set into a palette or on a table or even a tray. The best part of tempera cakes is that they are super easy to prep and clean up. Just place the trays on the table and whisk off when done. No need to wash anything. The only thing I don’t like about cake tempera is that when it dries, it can feel chalky and powdery.
Watercolor Paints Watercolors come in a variety of styles as well. I use pan watercolors and liquid watercolors. Pan are the cheapest and the most available. You can buy them in almost any craft store, drug store or discount store. Kids just need to add water. But for ridiculously easy and amazing color, try liquids. They have AMAZING color saturation!
Primary Colors: Red, Blue and yellow on the colorwheel.
Secondary Colors: Children in first and second grade begin to learn how to create secondary colors or purple (red and blue), orange (yellow and red) and green (blue and yellow).
Neutral Colors: Black, White, Gray, Brown...the earth tones.
Analogous Colors: "Next door neighboors" on the color wheel. The Primary is always listed first. Yellow-Green (grass green), Red-Orange (firecracker red), Blue-Green (Turquoise), etc..
Complementary Colors: Colors opposite each other on the color wheel. The opposite of Blue is Orange, Red/Oreen, Yellow/Purple. When you mix these two colors together they turn to mud or a slightly less attractive grey.
Value: Darkest dark to lightest light of a color.
Composition: The artist must think about line, color and rhythm to create a composition. In elementary school lessons, this can be where to put the horizon line, which colors to use to create light and dark spaces and even where to place an object.
Horizon Line: Where land meets the ocean or where sky meets land. The horizon line can be near the bottom of the page, in the middle or even at the top.
Positive/Negative Space: How much room an image takes up on a page (positive space). The space leftover is the negative space (often the background). A hard one for younger children to understand, so it’s best to leave this concept for upper grades.
Oil Pastel Resist: Using a crayon or oil pastel (don’t confuse with chalk pastel) to create a waxy barrier to resist watercolor paints. Some wonder if tempera paint achieves the same effect as watercolor. If you water the tempera paint down a lot, then yes. But this techniques works best with watercolor paints.
Media/Medium: Refers to the art supplies/materials used in art. Basically media is used for more than one item and medium refers to one item. Mixed Media? More than one material is used: oil pastel, paint, different techniques, etc.
Directed Line Drawing: A drawing that uses specific instructions given by a teacher to the students. I use directed line drawings in many of my grades to teach a basic drawing skill. Often, students and I will do a drawing together and then they will create their own. Many art teachers frown on this technique but I think it empowers kids. Having said that, it’s a good idea to teach all types of drawing techniques, but if you are new to art, directed line is a great place to start.
Free Expression: The chance to draw from one’s memory. This is a hard lesson to teach, but it is important to allow for free expression art whenever you can.
Observation: Drawing from observation allows the child to observe an item (still life) and draw the shapes that he sees.
BASIC ART SUPPLIES
I love paint. Nothing screams kid’s art like paint. There is an unexpected quality that happens through this medium and I love it. If you browse through my art lessons, you’ll notice that many feature paint. I use two basic paints in my art class; Tempera Paint and Watercolor Paints. Let’s break it down a bit more.
Tempera Paints Tempera Paints come in cake form and liquid form. Liquid tempera comes in bottles and have a pudding-like consistency straight from the bottle. This is sometimes what you want but mostly, it’s useful to add a small bit of water to the tempera paint. Add water in small doses and stir until you get a smooth consistency. Should feel like thick cream. Of course, you’ll need a palette to pour your paint into and I like plastic plates.
Cake temperas look like big, watercolor tablets. The circles are about 2″ wide and need to be set into a palette or on a table or even a tray. The best part of tempera cakes is that they are super easy to prep and clean up. Just place the trays on the table and whisk off when done. No need to wash anything. The only thing I don’t like about cake tempera is that when it dries, it can feel chalky and powdery.
Watercolor Paints Watercolors come in a variety of styles as well. I use pan watercolors and liquid watercolors. Pan are the cheapest and the most available. You can buy them in almost any craft store, drug store or discount store. Kids just need to add water. But for ridiculously easy and amazing color, try liquids. They have AMAZING color saturation!