Space!

We're starting a project on space and we've been working on tone so this seemed like the perfect lesson! I got the idea from the very helpful 'Deep Space Sparkle' blog. Actually, it was searching for space-themed art that led me to this blog which then led me to discover art blogs in general!

Because I couldn't find any dark chalk, I resorted to oil pastels. This proved to be more of a challenge for blending but also gave nice bright results.

1. Pupils drew around different objects to make about 6-8 circles on white paper which they coloured in with pastel. Rubbing the pastel on lightly seemed to make the blending a lot easier later on.
2. White pastel was added (fairly thickly) to one side of the circles and black pastel (much more lightly) to the other. The white and black could then be blended in towards the middle. They then cut out the planets.
3. We made the backgrounds by splattering white paint mixed with water on to black card before gluing on the planets and adding finishing touches. We talked about having a light source and making sure all the planets were  facing the right way (most used an object on their desk to be the 'Sun' so that they could point the light sides of their planets towards it).