Fall Pumpkins

This is a great project for teaching watercolor painting, 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 paper. The students had to be very comfortable with the drawing because the large drawing had to be done with black glue. Once the glue was dry, students used oil pastels to create three-dimensional pumpkins. The final step was to paint the background and add a texture.

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

Watercolor Masks of Nepal

International Academy students created these traditional style masks from Nepal. We began by learning about the country of Nepal. We looked at the native people, discussed the religions and languages spoken there, as well as the geography of the country. We saw that seven out of the 10 tallest mountains in the world are in Nepal, including the tallest; Mt. Everest. Students learned the uses of these masks for ceremonies and why they are so fierce and vibrantly colored. Students created sketches of several masks and chose the strongest designed to create a larger version. The masks needed to be drawn and painted symmetrically, have a third eye and sharp pointed teeth, as well as contain some type of color blending.

Catching Fall Leaves

Students in grades PreK and Kinder created these wonderful watercolor paintings. We began by tracing our hands on different colored construction paper. Students chose a color that was close to their own skin tone. We then blended blue and violet paint to create a beautiful sky background. We then did several leaf rubbings and colored them in using warm colors for fall. Students got to do lots of experimenting with blending paints to create these paintings to welcome autumn!

Autumn Leaves and a Van Gogh Sky

This is a great lesson for teaching observational drawing, color contrast, watercolor techniques and art history. And the best part: almost all students succeeded  in creating a beautiful painting! 

I taught this lesson to first through third grades. We began by completing observational drawings of leaves. These were then outlined with a black glue(Elmer's glue mixed with black tempera paint). During the next class, we painted in the leaves with warm colors. I showed students how to blend the watercolor paints to create intermediate colors. For the final class, students learned about Starry Night and created lines in the background that demonstrated movement. We also discussed how cool colors are opposite warm colors on the color wheel and how placing them next to each other creates contrast. 

This is a great seasonal project that introduces so many important design principles in an easy and fun way!