Pastel Sunflowers Art Project
I initially did this project with my class in response to the news of the conflict in Ukraine because sunflowers are their national flower and an important symbol. The blue and yellow are the colours of their flag. I also chose to do a panel style where halves would join each other in unity.
This is a beautiful project and can be used at any time of the year, especially in the fall when we see lots of sunflowers.
Timeline: 30-45 minutes
Materials:
Blue paper
Pencil
Chalk pastels (yellow, orange, brown, beige, white, black)
Oil pastels (yellow, brown)
Cotton buds (optional if students want more precise blending)
Steps:
We are going to be drawing half a sunflower so the first step is to create the inside by drawing a half circle against one of the long edges. It doesn’t matter which side they choose! Remember to draw lightly with your pencil so that it doesn’t show through too much.
Next sketch where the petals will be.
Trace the lines with your yellow and brown oil pastels. This just helps contain the chalk pastel a bit.
Colour in the petals using yellow and orange chalk pastels (even maybe a tiny bit of brown) to achieve a golden look. Colour it in with the different colours and use your fingers to blend.
Colour in the centre using the brown chalk pastel. Blend with fingers. On top, we added little dots of white, cream and black to show the seeds.
Sealing:
Since this is chalk pastel it’s quite messy. I know there are several “tricks” to getting it to set like hairsrpay or Modge Podge. I haven’t had a ton of success with it, but if you have a hack, go for it!
Display:
When arranging your displace, you could make the halves face each other to create full sunflowers. You can line them up to create a full sunflower, or you can do like I did in this display to show that they’re all connected. This is why it doesn’t matter which side they do it on, since you can rotate it to fit.
