Art Activity #7: Abstract Art Challenge
In this weeks’ activity we are going to be stretching ourselves outside of our comfort zones and creating an abstract work of art that we will then fill in according to the three colour challenge! It may sound complicated, but trust me, it’s easier than it sounds. Let’s do this!
For this activity you will need:
paper
pen, pencil, or marker to draw with
a collection of individual colours of some sort (crayons, markers, pencil crayons)
patience and focus
Follow these steps to create your abstract art:
Gather your art supplies in a nice quiet spot in your house. Write your full name in the air to loosen up your wrist.
Pick up your pen, pencil, or marker, and hold it over your paper. Take a deep breath, and begin to draw one long, continuous line that moves all around your paper, overlapping itself several times before coming back to the start and closing itself. Your line can be swoopy, sharp, squarish, pointy, whatever you want it to be, but it’s best for it not to overlap too much. The more times it overlaps, the more small shapes you will ultimately have to colour in. When you are happy with your design, just bring the line back to where it started, finishing your shape.
To colour our artwork we are going to try out the three colour challenge, wherein you pick three colours randomly without looking and use only them to colour in your artwork. This is a great way to step out of your comfort zone and try something new. For a greater challenge, we are going to try to colour in our abstract art in a way that none of the three colours touch themselves. I will explain that further in a bit, but first, follow these steps to pick your colours:
Grab a collection of individual colours. Crayons, markers, and pencil crayons will all work.
Pull out any colours you absolutely don’t want to use in your artwork (Miss Marks has a lot of grey markers, so she pulled out most of them so she wouldn’t end up with three shades of grey).
Close your eyes, and run your hands over your art supplies, picking three randomly without looking. These are the colours you will use to fill in your abstract artwork. (Miss Marks picked lavender, orange, and lime green!)
Miss Marks’ Marker Tips and Tricks
Colouring in large areas completely without it getting too streaky can be tricky, especially when using markers. To simplify this, break the large area down into smaller areas that you can then colour in completely. Colour in the same direction when filling in to minimize overlapping the colour too much. Remember that you can always adjust the angle of your marker to make your lines thicker and darker.
Follow these steps while colouring your abstract art in:
Start with one of the larger areas, pick one of your three colours, and colour it in completely.
Try to colour in the shapes surrounding your first big area with the other two colours, taking care to be sure that no colour touches itself, except diagonally. This ensures that the shapes within your abstract art truly pop.
Keep filling in areas within your art, being mindful of areas that should be kept white because they are outside of the shape itself.
It is not always possible to colour in all areas without having the colours touch, so if you find yourself in that situation, you can colour in the remaining areas however you like. (Or leave the area white, like Miss Marks did!)
When you have finished colouring in all the areas of your artwork, your piece is finished! You can take a photo of your work (using this handy guide!) and share it with your class and with Miss Marks, so she can post it here in the student gallery.
