Overview
Line and Mark Exploration
In this lesson, you will make a new colors with your oil pastels by mixing all of the primary colors.
Materials and Tools
- Set of oil pastels
- 9 x 12” paper
- Paper towel
Activities
Step by Step:
- Open your oil pastels.
- Take out the primary colors. Do you remember all three? (red, yellow, blue)
- Start by making a patch of color using red. Remember that you can press hard or softly.
- Make a patch of blue.
- Next, make a patch of yellow.
- Now try mixing these colors! Try a patch of red again, then a patch of blue next to it, then a patch of yellow. See if you can smudge and blend so these colors really mix! What color did it make?! Brown! How would you describe the color? Light? Dark?
- Let’s try mixing in a different way.
- Try making a patch of yellow, then adding just a little red and blue.
- Now, try adding a little more red and see how it changes.
- Try another patch of yellow, then add a little red and blue.
- Now, try adding a little more blue and see how it changes.
- Try to make as many different kinds of brown as you can! How else can you mix the colors to make different browns?
Prompts for Independent Art Making:
What kinds of things can you think of that are brown? We all have different skin tones—did any of the browns that you mixed look like your own skin color or like the skin color of someone you know?
What words can we use to describe different browns? Do any look like the colors of honey or hot chocolate? There are also lots of browns in nature. Look out your window and see what kinds of browns you can find.
Now that you know how to use the three primary colors to mix brown, make a drawing using as many different kinds of brown as you can!
Reflection Questions
- How many kinds of brown did you make?
- How could you describe or name these different browns?
Vocabulary
Oil pastel, smudge/smear, mix, blend
Primary colors—red, yellow, blue
Mixed colors—green, orange, purple, brown
Resources
Books: The Colors of Us by Karen Katz