The children arrived in homeroom groups and I had a total of 6 groups. I estimate that there were about 125 children. Adding the color went very well. We used Crayola oil crayons this time. They worked fine and blended into the card stock just fine. I do prefer the Portfolio oil crayons for their ease of use. They are so much softer and creamier. However, being the end of the year our gold wrapped ones were in short supply.
Because the children were at the mural station for only 25 minutes the time went by rapidly. I gave each group a little run down of what we were doing and had specific goals in mind on which each group could focus. For example, the first group worked with just warm colors and did spots of the butterfly. The second group also did warm colors for the spots on the panels that hadn't been started yet. By the time the third group got there, we were ready for the introduction of the areas between the spots. For that we tried to blend in just cool colors. At this time we talked about doing the outline and the segmented body with a blend of the cool colors and touches of black to create a shade. By the fifth and sixth group, we were ready to do the fingerprinting and small swirls or spiral shapes in the background. I tried to encourage the children to use the hues of the color wheel, rather than neutrals for the background. I had to say "Avoid black brown and gray!!!" a few times.
Organizing was important to do between the groups. We put away the oil crayons before the next group entered and to stack all the like pieces of the butterfly into 3 piles. We collected the panels that were completely wings, partial backgrounds with wings, and only background. That worked well so that I could hand out the sheets for more oil crayon or marker work.
I wish I had thought to take photos of us while we were involved. Sadly, I was much too into the process and only thought of it after we were all done for the day. Next time a mural is on schedule, I will have the camera in my hand! I really liked the switch to the softer print from coloring fingertips with marker ink and stamping them on the white negative space. The band instructor commented that it already was starting to look like Seurat's work! I don't know how I really feel about the swirls though. That may get a little out of control when everyone's idea of a swirl is a bit different and more importantly the size is a bit harder to regulate.
Children in the last group helped lay out the panels in the correct numerical order. We all were delighted to see the image come together.
After the children were gone I trimmed up two edges with the rotary paper cutter. I was careful to align it with the dotted marks. Next I used Tacky Glue to assemble a row at a time, then lastly I joined the rows.
I guess I prefer the glue to masking tape so that it stays together for more than one display. I also thought that it might be easier to line up the design with the art facing right side up.
Lastly, as a museum touch, I painted the outer border with a gold acrylic. Voila, a beautiful garden butterfly!
