Value Pumpkins

2nd graders have moved from color mixing to working on the value of one color. I like to start talking about value as early as the 2nd grade to gear them up for learning about color theory in depth in 4th grade. In the theme of the fall season, students are walked through a guided drawing of a pumpkin on black paper. We then discussed what the word value means in art vocabulary. When light hits an object, in theory, the color changes to the eye in a lighter shade of that color. The further away it gets from that light, the darker the color. After outlining their drawings of the pumpkin in black oil pastels, the students were given 4 different "shades" of orange. (sienna brown, orange, yellow and peach) Starting from the darkest the students colored in their pumpkins, using oil pastels, in a gradient to the top of their pumpkins. They mixed the colors by overlapping them. They then were given to shades of green for the stem and white for the stars/moon in which they rubbed to get that glowing effect. They used the green or brown to create a grass or dirt area in which the pumpkins are laying in and mixed black into those colors to make a drop shadow of the pumpkin. I was truly impressed with the way these came out! The students did a great job! And they make for a beautiful halloween/ fall display in our lobby.


Learning Objectives: Value, color theory

ART WORDS:
Value: shading or the gradient of a color from light to dark according to a light source.
Shadow: a dark area or shape produced by a body coming between rays of light and a surface.