In Art, Year Two have been learning all about mark making. Mark making can be lines, dots, marks and patterns created in a piece of artwork.
To begin the children learned about Vincent van Gogh – a Dutch artist – who is famous for his paintings. The boys and girls were intrigued to learn that although van Gogh is hugely popular now, he wasn’t when he was alive. He said that simple mark making was the root to everything and he practised the skill a lot.
Did you know Van Gogh painted over thirty self-portraits throughout his life? He wanted to practise painting people but couldn’t afford to pay anyone to model for him, so he painted himself. The children listened to a quote by van Gogh which reminded them that drawing yourself can be challenging.
“People say – and I’m quite willing to believe it – that it’s difficult to know oneself – but it’s not easy to paint oneself either. ‘
The children explored how to make different marks using pencil. They were introduced to a range of techniques, including hatching, tick hatching and scribbling. Then, taking inspiration from van Gogh, they drew a self-portrait. Using a mirror, they looked carefully at the features of their face before putting pencil to paper. Once they had drawn the basic outline, they used the mark making techniques they had practised to add detail.
Next, the children experimented with another material – charcoal. Again, they practised a range of mark making techniques, including short strokes and blending, which was very messy. The children thoroughly enjoyed creating thicker, darker marks (in contrast to using pencil) but had to be careful not to smudge their work. The boys and girls drew a second self-portrait using charcoal to add the finer details.
