Fourth Grade Abstract Paintings

For this project, fourth grade artists experimented with stamping and painting. We looked at the work of Piet Mondrian and noticed how his work became increasingly abstract throughout his career. Students noticed that although his later paintings are not representational, he created interesting compositions using shape, line and color. Students worked from this idea when creating their own abstract compositions. Beginning with line, they used small pieces of cardboard to stamp short lines on a large sheet of paper. They were encouraged to create shapes and patterns as they worked, but were told to play with the material and see what happened.

The following class, we discussed color schemes. We looked at some abstract paintings where the artist selected a color scheme to use. We explored primary color schemes, complementary color schemes and analogous color schemes. Students were not required to choose one specific color scheme, but we discussed how being selective about the colors you choose can work better than just using every single color available. Here are two paintings by Sarah Morris that we looked at. Here, she used a complementary color scheme on the left and an analogous one on the right.

Fourth graders used tempera cakes to add color to their work. They came out so beautifully. Here are a few examples, but click here for many more.