BACKGROUND:
Pablo Picasso was born in 1881 in Malaga, Spain. All the paintings by Pablo Picasso are usually classified into various ‘periods’ based on the moods and styles of the works.
These, in turn, were largely affected by his personal life. This painting was created by Picasso for a peace demonstration held in Stockholm, Germany in 1958. Picasso painted flowers as a peace symbol instead of a dove (a more common symbol of peace), and tried to symbolize that brotherhood was necessary for peace by having two hands holding the stems together.
Anchor Standard #3:
-Refine and complete artistic work.
Anchor Standard #5
-Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation.
Anchor Standard #7
-Perceive and analyze artistic work.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Discuss how Picasso makes use of “lines” and shapes to create his art. He uses simple lines to draw his hands and stems of the flowers, and simple circular shapes for the flowers. His colors are very BRIGHT AND VIBRANT and really “pop” from the page. The students too, will be using lines and circles to create their “Flowers of Peace”.
Different age group students can create their art in different ways. Pre-K and younger children may do well using their own handprints for the hands and fingerprints for the flower petals. Older students might try tracing their hands (or trying to draw them freehand) and adding their own fingernails, rings, bracelets etc. to further personalize, while using a paintbrush to paint flowers.
Step 1:
For the younger groups: Have the students paint some bright, vibrantly colored circles on the top half portion of the art paper with acrylic paint.
For the older groups: Have the students paint some bright, vibrantly colored circles on the top portion of the art paper. The circles can be simple, or the students can add their own touches to them with spiral patterns or whatever they choose.
Step 2:
For the younger groups: Supervise the children as they dip their fingertips in some different, but also very vibrantly colored, acrylic or craft paint. Have them put their fingerprints around the circles they had painted to make flowers.
For the older groups: They can then add flower petals with other vibrant paint colors, but HAVE THEM WAIT TO PAINT the flower stems until after they draw their hands.
Step 3:
For the younger groups: With a green marker, or paint, have them draw simple lines from the flowers to the bottom of their art paper to create the flower stems. Give paint a few minutes to dry.
For the older groups: Have them either trace (using a pencil to lightly draw around their fingers) or draw their hands facing each other in the center of the page. They can personalize their hands by adding fingernails, or rings and bracelets if they wish. Have them trace along the outline with black magic marker.
Step 4:
For the younger groups: Brush some vibrantly colored paint on the palm of the child’s hand then carefully place the hand over the stems of the flowers that they created.
For the older groups: Have them draw or paint lines from the flowers to their hands to create the stems.
