I had the opportunity to work with children going into First and Second Grades at the 2021 Sitka Fine Arts Elementary Camp. This was over five days, in which (this year) groups of eight children came in for 45 minutes, also also went for 45 minutes each to three other classes in music, movement and ceramics.
I showed them slides of paintings by Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, and went around and each said something they noted in a painting. We then painted, using a limited palette of yellow, red and white, with paint on a paper plate, and mixing colors on a second plate, on 18 x 24 inch 80# paper.
The next day I showed pictures by Helen Frankenthaler and photos of her working, telling about her, and we went around and all told about one thing they noticed in one of her pictures. This time I gave them cups of paint, that they could pour onto the paper plate mixing palette. I told them to mix three new colors.
The results were amazing, to my mind. What is most exciting though is their painting process, the way they really get into it, each in their own way.
Sitka Art Blog 
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