Pretty Purple Flowers

Every week, I pick a student to be “Artist of the Week.” Someone who did an extra nice job in art class will get their artwork displayed in the glass case near the entrance of our school. Usually the “Artist of the Week” is someone who followed directions really well, was creative, and had wonderful craftsmanship and great attention to details. In a very structured art lesson, sometimes it is difficult to choose between similar pictures; in a less structured lesson with more freedom, sometimes it’s hard to choose between pictures that are very different and brilliant in different ways!

This week, 1st grade did an art project with a lot of room for creativity. This is the point where the difference between talented students and kids who are struggling becomes apparent! My 1st graders have been learning about secondary colors, and each week, we mixed a different color to make a new picture. This week we did purple, and the assignment was the draw the flower stems and any details with crayons, and to paint the petals with purple paint that we mixed from red and blue.

Some students made flowers in a garden. Others put their flowers in a bouquet. Some students put their flowers in a vase or flower pot. With lots of variety, there were many nice pieces of artwork. But, this week, one student really stood out to me.

This little girl used creativity to color the wall behind the flowers with the side of the crayon, giving it beautiful texture. She also used a great analogous color scheme. Different shades of blue, blue-violet, violet, and red-violet appear throughout the picture. And, she didn't leave anything white that shouldn't be white! Wow. I am very impressed.