Ton Schulten is a Dutch painter who mainly paints landscapes using bright blocks of color. His geometric style draws you in as your eyes bounce between color and shape. I came across a post by the blogger
Paintbrush Rocket where she tackled this artist with her 2nd grade class. The results were stunning and I knew I wanted to give a Ton Schulten try with my students.
We started by mapping out the paper. I helped students make a grid of 2" square. From there we blocked out our paper with triangles, squares, rectangles and more. I found it helpful to use construction paper to block off sections as we worked. The abstract quality of the artwork can make it a tad confusing for little ones. After the pencil lines were drawn in, students started with the sky. I encouraged students to put a small letter "B" in each of the blocks that were to receive blue paint. Again, this really helped minimize errors and have the students feel successful with their painting.
Adding tints to the sky as students mixed white with blue to create various shades of blue.
Next came value. Students explored color value by isolating their buildings into specific colors. Above, a student is working the "red" family and was given dark red, red, pink, and yellow to mix different values with.
More to come as the project progresses!
