Painting with scissors - Matisse

The boys did a video lesson from my fav art program, Deep Space Sparkle, last week.  We learned about Henri Matisse and how he was not only a painter, but as he got older he painted with scissors.  We started the lesson by reading a book about Matisse.  I love incorporating books into any lessons that we do.  It encourages more conversation and gives the boys another way to connect with and better remember what we are learning about.  Matisse was a cool artist and we had fun talking about him!

For this lesson, we talked about primary, secondary, and complementary colors.  

They decorated their first set of squares with colors in the same color family.  We used a color wheel for this.  

Then they glued those squares to a rectangular piece of black paper.

They could put them in any order they wished.  

Then they cut out organic shapes...shapes found in nature.  

What I love so much about Patty, the Deep Space Sparkle teacher, is how she always gives the boys little tips throughout the lesson.  

For example, she taught them how to cut out these organic shapes by keeping your cutting hand still with your elbow by your side and your other hand is the only one that should move.  Such great tips!  

This tip along with a few others, helped Chayce learn how to cut a spiral.  Tough shape to cut out!  Then they glued their organic shapes onto their squares making sure to put complementary colors together.  We used the color wheel for this as well.  

And here are their finished works of art!  Fantastic job boys!!