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 Sand Painting

Introduction:
Drawing any picture is easier if you draw with shapes. You can use geometric shapes or organic shapes, lines, and patterns all in the same picture. Today we are going to draw a picture with pencils on paper and then we will "paint" it with colored sand. This is a Native American technique that evolved out of rituals and ceremonies. We will use primary and secondary colors. The subject of our picture today will be wacky animals. We'll pick 2 different animals and combine them in our drawing to make one bizarre creature!

Materials:

  • Craft sand in baby food jars with holes in the top a la salt shaker style
  • White glue
  • Pencils and erasers
  • Permanent markers

Directions:
1. Draw your creature with pencil using shapes, lines, and patterns. Now trace your drawing with the permanent marker.
2. Apply glue to your shapes and sprinkle colored sand on top of the glue. Be sure to do this one shape at a time so that the glue does not dry out.
3. After sprinkling the sand on your paper, lift the paper up and let the excess sand fall onto the table. Collect the mufti-colored sand in an empty baby food jar for future use.

Artspeech:
Shapes - A shape is what is formed when the two ends of a line meet
Geometric shapes - shapes that have their basis in math, i.e. circles, squares, rectangles, dodecahedron etc.
Organic shapes - shapes that have their origin in nature, i.e. tree shape, clouds, fish shape, etc.
Pattern - a decorative design, usually of a repeated figure or motif.
Primary colors - One of the three colors from which all other colors can be Mixed, red, blue, and yellow.
Secondary colors - Any of the three colors that are obtained by mixing any two of the primary colors. Red + blue = purple, red + yellow = orange, blue + yellow = green.

Resources:
Mayer, Ralph. The Harper Collins Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques. Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 1991.

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