Walking with Thiebaud

I was walking around with an art project all week teaching in various classrooms, until I ended up in one with the power and wifi out and a very loose lesson plan. Something told me I would need a lesson plan this week, and its nice when everyone's wondering what to do, to sayyyy "Well we could do an art project.." and have everyone go yes! Let's do an art project! And then paints are coming out and paper, and we are taking about art.

Wayne Thiebaud is a California Artist...

What I like best about Thiebaud is the edge of his objects. I've looked at some of them closely and you see so many colors in thin lines around his objects like electric yellow, sap green and cotton candy. To me it gives his objects a kind of electric life, a vibration. You also see this in his landscapes as if he has captured all times of day somehow.

“They’re fighting for position,” he says of the colors. “That’s what makes them vibrate when you put them next to each other", he told Smithsonian magazine in February of 2011.

As usual, I did not take any pictures of the art the students made. I told them a bit about Thiebaud, and showed them some pictures of his work. Then I showed them how to draw cupcakes and layer cakes and slices of cake. I think drawing these shapes give a strong lesson in geometry as well as perspective. Once the paint comes out things are hectic and fun, and everyone is working, and people need more red, and yellow and glitter. And you get inspired to show them more techniques, like scratching back into the paper with the other end of the paint brush to make lines. We were working on black construction paper with red, green, and white paint to make Christmas cakes, and using yellow paint and gold glitter for decorations. I have done the Thiebaud project now with two different classes and they both really enjoyed it. The other one used watercolor. It was extremely difficult to get them to do anything else once they started painting. I think Thiebaud appeals to kids through his subject matter as well as they way he depicts the world. His painting show a world that is some how comfortable but interesting. Here are some of the discarded works. I will take more pictures one of these days. Right now here we are in the busy busy days before Christmas.