Matisse inspired batiks 6th grade

You will need:

Sheet of construction paper ( some brands work better than other so you might want to experiment)
Print outs of a variety of vases, flowers, and fruit
Oil pastels
A piece of chalk pastel
Watery black tempera paint (the consistency of chocolate milk)

After learning all about Matisse and his love for interior still lives, my 6 th grade class embarked on creating their own Matisse inspired still lives. Students first created some thumbnails of their composition. I gave them print outs to look at of different vases, flowers, and fruit so that everyone's was a little different. Once they had their sketch down, they drew a simple contour drawing of their composition with a piece of chalk on their construction paper. For the batik process, it is important that you do not color over the top of the chalk. Students then colored AROUND the chalk with oil pastel and filled their composition with patters and color. The last process is the best. Students took their works to a painting station and covered the drawing with a coat of watery black tempera paint. They were so scared! Once covered, you rinse the paint off in the sink, the. Black paint does not stick to the oil pastel and only sticks to the chalk pastel. This gives you a great outline effect like Matisse used with out it getting too "outline-y"