Warm and Cool Hands

PK and Kindergarten artists recently learned about warm and cool colors. We learned that warm colors, like red, orange, and yellow, remind us of warm things like fire and the sun. On the other hand, cool colors, like green, blue and violet, remind us of cool things like water and the sky. 

We then looked at two different paintings by Vincent Van Gogh. If students saw mostly warm colors, they held up a "w" with their hands and if they saw mostly cool colors, they held up a "c." First we looked at Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers, which we decided had mostly warm colors.

Vincent Van Gogh, Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers (1888)

Students noticed all the warm colors, like the red and orange in the middle of the flowers and the yellow petals and background. Then we looked at Starry Night, also by Vincent Van Gogh, and many students recognized it from having seen a poster of the painting on the wall of the art room.

Students noticed the cool colors in the swirling night sky, noting the different blues and greens. Many students thought that the way Van Gogh used the warm colors for the moon and stars helped make them stand out in the night sky.

Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night (1889)

Then we used warm and cool colors in a resist painting. Students outlined the shape of their hand and used either warm or cool colors of oil pastel to color inside the area. Those who used warm color oil pastels painted cool colors, using watercolors, and those who used cool color oil pastels painted over their hand using warm color watercolors. Here are a few examples of our warm and cool color hands:

Ally, Kindergarten

Joey, Kindergarten

Finnley, Kindergarten

Lily, Kindergarten