Watercolor Leaves

Students in grades 1-3 created these fun and festive fall paintings. We began by doing a leaf rubbing and cutting it out to create a stencil. This was then retraced onto a large paper repeatedly. I made the students aware that they would be coloring the background in black or brown so the closer the leaves are to each other the better. Repetition in art and negative space are important principles to stress and learn here. Once this is completed, students painted the leaves with the three warm colors- red, yellow and orange. I showed the students how to blend the colors from light to dark and to blend them into each other. The darkly colored background acts as a good resist so the students can be a little more free and loose with their painting.  

Catching Leaves

Students in PreK and Kinder completed these wonderful watercolor paintings. We began by tracing our hands and coloring them with crayons. Students needed to use a color close to their own skin tone. We then did several leaf rubbings above the hands to look like we are catching the leaves while they fall! The final class we used blue watercolor paint to fill in the sky. This is a great project that captures one of our favorite fall activities!

Glue Line 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 real pumpkins. I prefer to use the mini pumpkins because they are cheaper and easier to move. 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 tagboard. 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 recieved many compliments and they made for a great Autumn display!

Fall Leaves

Students in 4-6 created these amazing leaf designs. We started by experimenting with a few different watercolor techniques to blend warm colors. We later used this painting to create a variety of abstract leaf designs. Students then cut these out and were given the option of using some different patterned papers.