Paul Klee Poetry and Art

I wanted to collaborate with a classroom teacher for a writing project recently and found this idea in a book about Klee for children.  Students wrote a five line poem on a subject of choice.  Line one was a noun, line 2 was two colors to describe the noun, line 3 was three words to describe the first word, line 4 was four words to describe the first word and line 5 was one word that reinforced the word in line one.  The ELA teacher worked with students to create the poems and then sent them to me for the art portion of the assignment.  Students began by painting a paper with their two colors using watercolors.  They were to be abstract in nature with students having full control over the look of their painting.  Week two, students visualized their poem and created a line drawing that would  represent their thoughts.  These images were drawn on paper the same size as the painted work.  Using carbon paper, students transferred completed images to the watercolor painting.  Most of my students had not seen carbon paper prior to this experience and found the process to be magical!  The poem was transfer to the image in a like fashion.  I was a bit stress about the outcome of this project after the initial watercolor painting was created but the end results thrilled me.  I think my students did a terrific job matching artistic interpretations to poetic work.