Surrealistic Birds

Surrealism can be a fun style to tackle with elementary students.  Who could be better to discuss when thinking about Surrealism than the king of Surrealism, Salvador Dali?  We started out by looking at a photo of Dali.  The kids giggled when they saw his wild eyes and mustache.  Do you remember the first time you saw a photo of him?

Next, we looked and analyzed The Persistence of Memory, and the students were very insightful I must add. We then looked at and discussed The Elephants.  In deciding what to draw, I made the decision to draw birds instead of elephants.  (We live in a college football loving state and the elephant just happens to be the mascot of one of those schools.  Those students that were fans of the rival school were thankful that we drew birds instead.)

Students carefully drew their birds using a pen Sharpie and then added patterns.  Next we painted the backgrounds using watercolor washes.  The following week students added color to their birds using markers.  I think Salvador Dali would be impressed!