Third Grade Picasso Self Portraits

Third Grade learned about the amazing, genius artist Pablo Picasso. They studied his Blue Period, Rose Period, Cubism and Portraits.  The portraits were something new for artists of his time. He attempted to show a profile as well as a frontal view simultaneously.  This fascinated students but freaked them out when they tried the technique on their own self portrait! They did incredibly well!
Then they learned about Complementary Colors. These are pairs of colors that lay opposite on the color wheel: Blue and Orange,  Purple and Yellow,  Red and Green.  When mixed these pairs cancel each other out and produce a gray.  When side by side,  they play off each other and do what I call "zing!" Many sports teams use complements for their uniform  colors so they are super visible on the field. Of course our Broncos have the orange and blue!  Kids were required to paint each section of their portrait using a pair of complements: The hair, the face, the shirt.  The final step involved  decorating the background with a contrast of black and white patterns of lines and shapes.