Many West Wingers have been exploring materials without the addition of color this year. The focus has turned to the texture of the material and the possibilities of its properties.
Cindy, the WW studio teacher, introduced a new technique to all the children called 'resist'. She offered textured leaves and wax based drawing tools. The rubbings showed delicate detail in the leaves. The children then painted the detailed rubbings with watercolors.
Moving this exploration outdoors, the children mixing paints with Maisha, chose to match the leave's colors from our garden. The palette this week reflects the many shades of green seen there. The awareness of values of color is an extension of shadow work as well.
A shadow on an apple naturally gives volume to the rounded shape by allowing our eye to see the gradation of color from bright red at the light source to the darkest red shade at the opposite side of the light source.
We're hopeful that this first step in color values will deepen their ability to express their ideas in paint and will be adding the resist technique materials to the easel.