Pumpkin Still- Life

The first grade students began working on still-life art and the subject of our still-life

were pumpkins and gourds.

Here is an example of some of the things we discussed before drawing.

Important vocabulary words were perspective and

curved lines. I asked the students to closely observe the shape of the pumpkin to

understand how to draw the pumpkins realistically.

The pumpkin still-lifes were placed in the center of the table about a foot away from the students. I demonstrated using a specific grip of the pencil

to allow for the students to make light pencil marks, so as to not carve into

or scar the paper showing previously drawn lines.

By shifting the location of their pencil grip slightly higher than normal, it allowed the

children to grip the pencil softer and create softer lines.

Each class used different media to color their still-lifes. Some classes used just oil pastel, while some used a combination of oil pastel, crayon and watercolor.

I demonstrated to the classes how watercolor and crayon or oil pastel resist each other,

to create a colorful mixture of media.

Below you can see an example of how the pencil grip technique translates into

the use of the paint brush.

You can see how the yellow lines drawn into the curved lines of the pumpkins

help make the color pop.

Stay tuned for part two of the Pumpkin Still- Life series.