Today in art class we created poppy artwork in honor of Memorial Day. I asked the kids if they'd seen anyone wearing red, paper poppies on the shirts and asked if they knew why. I talked about symbols and how they help us remember important stuff. We talked about World War I being fought in Europe and about the poem "Flanders Field" by John McCrae. (Several of the kids knew about it from school.) Keeping all of that I mind we created our pieces in watercolor by using a straw and watercolor along the bottom of the page to create the grassy field. We got fresh water (excellent opportunity to talk about complimentary colors and what happens when you mix green paint water with red paint...). We put little puddles of water each place we wanted a poppy and dripped yellow, orange and red paint into the puddle and tipped our papers to get the colors to run together. As they drying purple was added to create the dark centers. After projects dried some chose to add pen and ink details. The results are wonderful!
