Luscious Leaves

This term Louise Pasquill and her young artists explored the Life of Leaves!

Lime green, olive green, smooth, ribbed, oval, triangular, we investigated the wide variety of textures, shapes and colours.

We talked about what trees provide, from food, to building materials; shade, to clean air.

Which tree did this leaf come from? Why are leaves green? How do they differ?

In our sketchbooks, we each copied Botanical plant studies, to improve our drawing skills and understand the structure of the plants.

To make bold colours and layers, we blended oil pastels. This tree provides food and drink from it’s fruit. Does anyone know what it is?

We tried to match the colour tone of green. Is it a yellow green or a blue green?

Look at the patterns of the fern strand unfurling!

We went outside for a walk to listen to the leaves, to watch them flutter in the sun and breeze. Does a waxy, shiny surface reflect or absorb the sunlight?

In the classroom, we created abstract drawings from our feelings of the trees in the playground. We used matt and gloss paper, to imitate the waxy leaf surface.

To bring our skills and leafy learning to an end, we worked collaboratively in groups, to create a large scale collage influenced by Henri Matisse and his “drawing with scissors” techniques.

We painted paper with bright colours and combed the paint to make patterns. Then, we used it to create our vibrant collages.

Some feathered the paper, using new cutting skills. We saw how Henri Matisse creating Cut Outs in a video. He spent a long time laying out his composition before he finally stuck it down.

We thought carefully how to compose our pictures, to tell our own stories about the park or garden we imagined. We included some insects and some raindrops.