To kick start our topic learning this half term we have dived straight into our art project ‘Mix It’.

This topic focused on looking at and talking about a range of artwork. We looked at how lots of artists use colour in their work and how colour can and has been used differently by different artists.

As a whole class we explored lots of different artwork by lots of famous artists. We shared our initial responses to the art, what we liked or disliked and what we could see at first glance. We then started to focus our conversation around the artists use of colour. For example, lots of paintings by Pablo Picasso use the colour ‘blue’ but not all of them look the same… it isnt just a blue splodge on a page! How are the ‘blues’ different? This led us to to think about different shades and tones such as light blue, dark blue, sky blue, royal blue etc. We thought about why the artist has chosen that colour.

We also explored paintings such as Jaune Rouge Bleu and Squares with Concentric Circles by Wassily Kandinsky.  We focused on different lines and shapes we could see as well as the use of different colours. We  focused on the primary colours – red, blue and yellow – and how mixing two primary colours together makes a secondary colour using the colour wheel to support our understanding. We even used some of these famous pieces of artwork as inspiration for our own art, choosing the elements that stood out to us to explore.

This lead us onto our mixing sessions. It is really important to understand that some colours can be mixed and that some cannot. In doing this we were able to start creating colours in different shades, asking questions along the way. For example, if I want to make my green darker do I add more blue or more yellow?

We have had such a brilliant time over the last week exploring colour and shape and getting (just a little bit) messy! Below you can see lots of pictures from across the different ‘Mix It’ lessons.

Well done Year 1 – another great week! Keep up the super learning.