I got the idea for this project form Cathy Weisman Topal's book Children and Painting. It's a book that I really like. It lays out units that correspond to the art elements in a way that doesn't feel forced or contrived to me. It feels more like an organic exploration of materials and mark-making which is so important to early elementary students. For the first couple days we worked on big brush strokes and then we spend some time exploring smaller brush strokes. I talked about the classic lines, e.g., straight, wavy, zig-zag. thick, thin, but I also tried to encouraged them to find ways to vary them or to invent their own. I also encouraged them to experiment with direction.
