Rainbow Self-Portraits

Montessori students in grades 1 through 3 created these vibrant and colorful self-portraits. We began by drawing a realistic portrait and coloring them with colored pencils. Students learned about Mondrian and the primary colors and created some Mondrian inspired umbrellas. To create the rainbow rain storm, students first learned the order of the color wheel. We then put drops of watercolor paint on the paper and blew them through a straw. This was a super fun lesson teaching portraiture and the many aspects of color!

Medieval Dragons

Students in grades 4-6 created these medieval dragons in the style of ancient illuminated manuscripts. We began by drawing a scroll and drawing a detailed dragon. Once the drawing was complete, students painted over it with a light brown watercolor wash. During the next class, we outlined the dragon with a sharpie and colored it in with colored pencils. The final step was to add a name in a older style font. I love the three-dimensional look of the scrolls! Go Dealey Dragons!

Autumn Pumpkins

This is a great project for teaching wet-on-wet painting techniques, color blending, and how to use space in an artwork.

We began by doing sketches of pumpkins. I made sure students used contour lines while drawing and focused on details like vines and leaves. Once students were comfortable sketching the pumpkins, they then transferred that drawing onto a large piece of tag board. The students had to be very comfortable with the drawing, because the large drawing had to be done with glue! I did not let the students use pencil because once the glue dries, it becomes clear and the pencil drawing would become visible. These were left to dry overnight. The next day, I had the students use an ultra fine sharpie and outline all of the glue lines. It can be very difficult, and sometimes you may need to tilt the paper to be able to see where the glue is. Finally we were ready to paint! I showed the students how to use a wet-on-wet technique to spread color quickly, as well as how to blend analogous colors. You have to be sure to NOT paint over the glue lines, the glue does not resist the paint and can be very hard to remove.

These painting were very fun to do and extremely successful! I received many compliments and they made for a great Autumn display!

Warm Colored Lions

Students in PreK and Kinder created these adorable warm colored lions. We began by sponge painting red and yellow paint together to create orange. Once the paintings were dry, we traced the lions body and cut it out and added the lions head. I showed the students step-by-step how to draw the lions face using simple lines and shapes. On the final day, students added strips of paper to create the lions mane. This is a great lesson to teach warm colors, color mixing, and also simple patterns in artworks.