Kandinsky Rainbow

 

This project involved making a painting with sponges, inspired by the artist Wassily Kandinsky.  The objective was to have students use and mix together the primary colors red, yellow, and blue to create all the colors of the rainbow.  We first mixed our colors, then used sponges to create our rainbow.  We then created a nature scene, cut our rainbow, and glued it onto the scene. 

 

I chose to create a scene with a river and hills.  I mixed together specific primary colors to create orange, green, and purple,  I used a blotting technique on the hills to create texture, and also blotted a small amount of blue paint in the sky to create clouds.  For the river, I smeared the sponge to create lines. 

 

For an extension activity, students could learn to add white and black paint to create lighter and darker shades of their colors.  They could then create a painting using these colors in addition to the ones they already have.  For example, they could add black to create darker colors and make a night time scene.