Winter Birch Trees

Students begin by painting the background using wet on wet watercolor techniques to create a sky and snowy ground. Once the background is dry, students used markers to add details such as fences, animaks, footprints, etc. They then cut and glued white strips of paper which they used sharpie to draw small black lines. They then added shadows by using a very light grey paint on the dies of the tress, under the trees and any other details they added. We talked about where the light source comes from and how all of the shadows should be on the same side.

Chinese Scrolls

We looked at reproductions of Chinese scroll paintings and discussed their consistent theme of nature. We noticed that there were often mountains, trees, bodies of water and clouds depicted in these paintings. Students drew a landscape using these elements. They added detail with oil pastel before painting with tempra cakes.

Starry Night

Students studied Van Gogh's "Starry Night". We discussed his composition, what was in the foreground, middleground and background and his use of small expressive brushstrokes. Students then created their own version of "Starry Night".

Wayne Thiebaud Inspired Paintings

Students were introduced to the paintings of Wayne Thiebaud. Thiebaud's (pronounced Tee-bo) paintings depict realistically painted desserts and sweets. We looked at paintings of cakes, ice cream, lollipops and gumball machines before brainstorming other treats. Students drew multiple desserts and added details using oil pastels. They then painted them using tempera cakes.