Tinted Winter Tree Silhouettes

In this lesson we begin by discussing what a tint is. Students choose either red or blue paint to use for their background and are given a small cup of white paint. Little by little they add their color to the white and paint in layers from bottom to top, getting darker as they go. Once the background is dry students use black paint to add silhouettes of trees showing distance by painting the tree in front larger and the tree in back smaller. Students can add any other details in silhouette- a fence, animals, person... They then use white paint to add a moon and snow falling in the sky and on tree branches. To finish off their painting they mix gray and add shadows under all their objects.