watercolor vegetables (Miroco Machiko)

Browsing the internet this summer, I came across some of the most beautiful drawings and paintings I have seen in a while, produced by a young artist from Japan named Miroco Machiko. So often, we teach from master artists who are no longer living, and it was really refreshing to inspire the students with the work of an up and coming young woman with a very unique take on natural images. Most of her work involves plants and animals - they have a childlike quality to them with the bold shapes and exciting colors, often with a dark background, creating a "glow."
Third graders looked at examples of still life drawings and drew crayon contours of an assortment of vegetables. Next, we used liquid watercolors for the veggies - learning to make the colors "bleed" - and a final layer of black for the negative space. This was the first time we have used liquid watercolor, and the students really enjoyed the quality of the colors.

***Update *** Students,  I sent an email to the artist's website, and she kindly sent us a reply, which I copied and pasted here. How cool!

Hi Hope Knight

I looked at art works of your students. It is my pleasure to see many colorful vegetables with freewheeling thinking.

Thank you for utilizing my works for your class. 

mirocomachiko

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ミ　ロ　コ

マ　チ　コ　　mirocomachiko

Machiko

My example, so fun to make!