Paul Klee's Red Balloon

Paul Klee
(1879-1940)
Swiss German painter

He was influenced by Expressionism, Cubism and Surrealism

"Color has taken hold of me...it will possess me always...color and I are one.   I am a painter."

I personally am a big fan.  His paintings are some of my favorites at the Art Institute of Chicago.

"Red Balloon", painted in 1920 is not at the Art Institute of Chicago, but rather at the Guggenheim.
I really like this one and thought I would give it a go with my students!

Materials needed:
- Bleeding tissue paper (not the same as regular tissue paper)
- White watercolor paper
- Scissors
- Brushes
- Water
- Glue sticks
- Black pencil
- Example of original painting of "Red Balloon" (optional)

Directions:

1.  Bleeding tissue paper is awesome!  Show the students how to overlap pieces of the tissue paper then paint on a little bit of water.  Watch how the colors run and how the colors bleed!

(I precut squares to save time and also, only gave them a few choices of colors for the background)

2.  Once your paper is covered and the pieces are wet through enough, students can peel away the wet tissue paper to reveal the color underneath!  Cool right?

3.  Once the paper is dry, then we took a few "pops" of color and glued them on to the background.  NO WATER.  just glue.
(Optional - precut red circles for the balloons)

4.  Draw on the basket and any other detail you would like!  Some of the students tried really hard to copy Paul Klee exactly and others had their own take on it.  Either way - it was fun!