In Art, Year Two have been learning all about mark making. To begin, the children learned that mark making can be lines, dots or patterns used in a piece of artwork. Also, it can be used to make something look darker or to show how something feels.
Year Two learned about a famous artist called Vincent van Gogh. They discovered that his favourite colour was yellow and he loved to paint sunflowers. The children looked at one of van Gogh’s most famous paintings – Starry Night. They identified that he had used lots of mark making techniques to create it. Then, they discussed whether they liked his painting and how it made them feel. Lots of the children said it made them feel sleepy whereas others said it made them feel relaxed.
Next, the children used pencil to practise a range of mark making techniques. These included hatching, woven hatching and even scribbling. After that, they used charcoal to create different marks including short strokes and blending. This was a little bit messy but lots of fun!
Once the children were confident with different types of mark making, they created two self-portraits – the first with pencil and the second with charcoal. Year Two used mirrors to draw the features of their face. This ensured that they drew their eyes, nose and mouth in the correct place. Once they had drawn their features, they chose some of the mark making techniques they had learned to add detail. Some of the children chose hatching for their eyebrows and for those with curly hair, scribbling added texture.
