This term, Year three has been focusing on prehistory in our history and English lessons, in particular the Stone Age. Having spent a few weeks learning about when the Stone Age was, how life was different then and exploring the remains of some Stone Age settlements, we decided to explore an area that had intrigued us: cave paintings.
First, we looked at lots of examples of cave painting from across the world. We compared them for similarities and differences in style, subject matter and materials. We noticed that the style of these paintings was quite unique and this is something we tried to emulate.
We had to get familiar with our tools for the task. We began by using chalk pastels in natural shades of brown, orange, red and yellow to create a background that could resemble a cave wall. We practised shading and smudging to get a rocky appearance. After that, we worked with charcoal to make bold, black lines for our animals or people.
Finally, we practised sponging paint around a cut-out handprint to create the famous handprints of Cueva de las Manos.
Once we had tested out our techniques and materials we planned our final piece of scrap paper. This helped us to make good use of the space we had on the paper. Then, we began to create our images using our materials and plans.
It was messy work, but we really enjoyed it. The combination of the different mediums really worked well with the style of the paintings, allowing us to create really effective Stone Age cave art.
