G is for Great Big Markers

I have a group of adventurous artists in my 9 - 11 year old class. They are willing and eager to try anything I suggest.

This means I try to introduce new ideas, new techniques, new colors, new rules, and especially new materials whenever I can.

So, how cool was it when somebody donated a big of box of neon color great big markers?

We all looked at the box filled with heavy round markers, trying to figure out what to do with them. The neon colors seemed to call to the stash of black construction paper I'd been saving for something. I had an idea.

The students pushed the tables together, everyone got a 12x18 sheet of black paper, and some testing sheets to try out the markers to see what they could do, and we began to play.

The project I suggested was to follow my set of instructions to create a cool abstract - draw a straight line, a vertical from one edge to the other, add some circles, a curving line. Then see how the shapes and lines could be filled by the broad tipped markers, each of which, we soon discovered, created a slightly different texture, line quality and even depth of color. 

With the limited and somewhat unusual neon colors, and the black paper, the results were very free and loose, and fun.  The one on the right is my original, created as I worked alongside the kids, experiencing these markers for the first time as well.

The one on the top is an example of how I can't leave well enough alone. I had to play with this is in Photoshop. I thought about layering the images as I am learning to do in my monotype printing class. Here's the result.
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