Picasso Tinted and Shaded Self-Portrait

Pablo Picasso's Blue Period, in which he painted only blue paintings of sad subject matter, is a good example of how an artist used color to reflect his feelings. Ask children to think of the different feelings associated with colors before they choose the main color for their self-portrait.

1. Show the students how to draw a simple self-portrait with pencil on a heavy piece of paper. It's a good time to review the basic proportions of the face (eyes in middle of oval, nose halfway down, etc.) Have them trace the pencil lines with a black Sharpie marker.
2. Let the students choose one main color - red, blue, green or yellow are good – and distribute on a paper plate with a little black and white. (Acrylic and tempera paints will work for this.) Show the students how they can mix many variations of the main color by adding a little of each color together on the plates.
3. Ask the students to fill in each area of their drawing with a different color of paint. If the paint is thinned well with water, they can paint over some of the black lines if they want.
4. After the entire face and background is painted, let dry. When complete, any black lines that were painted over may be traced again to make them stand out.
This very cool painting was made today by a kindergartener in my afterschool class.

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