Give each student a hard canvas that is approximately 6 by 8 inches. Passing out paints that are related to blues and greens helps the final, pieced-together project emulate an Andy Warhol painting. Acrylic paint and paintbrushes work well for third graders and later, but consider finger paints for second graders and younger. Starting the project two days before the individual paintings are combined into a large piece of artwork gives the paint layers plenty of time to dry completely.
Day one of the school auction craft involves each student painting a solid background covering their entire canvas. Each student should choose any color from the preselected blues and greens. On day two, ask the students to paint just a picture of their face and hair, and encourage them to spend time creating details. One option is to ask each student to bring in their school portrait so they can study it before and during the painting process. This method also gives children ideas of the types of lines they should draw, along with major face characteristics.
Distribute the pictures back to the students on day three so they can inscribe their names with paint in the bottom right corner. This step allows the buyer to relate a self portrait with a student in the class. Combining the small portraits on a large stretched canvas completes the Andy Warhol appeal. Strong double-sided tape or sturdy craft glue is sufficient for adhering the paintings to the canvas. Place the paintings in perfect rows and columns with little to no space between. Arrange the pictures so background colors vary in placement throughout the larger canvas.
Grades younger than third may have a difficult time depicting self portraits. Therefore, consider having younger students paint flowers instead of their faces. On the project’s first day, ask the students to paint a single color background with various lines throughout to represent grass. The craft’s second day consists of showing the class how to paint simple flowers similar to those created by Andy Warhol. Adding yellow, pink and red paint livens up the flowers. The goal of arranging the final pictures with different background colors placed one next to another is the same as if students painted portraits.