Contemporary Evergreen Trees Mixed Media Collage

I found this pretty winter lesson HERE on the wonderful Dutch Art blog "Kids Artists" run by Jacquelien.

I modified the lesson a bit- instead of using bleeding tissue for the trees, we created textured paper using salt sprinkled over liquid watercolours. This took one period.

Here's all the paper dried the next day. 

Wiping off the crusty dried salt is a bit of a pain. 

UPDATE: now I use a stiff large nail brush to brush it all off! 

Each paper turns out so different with a beautiful crystallized effect. 

The next class students painted their backgrounds using either regular pan watercolours or liquid watercolours. They painted snow on top using white tempera paint.

While their backgrounds were drying, they used rulers and drew a variety of 

sizes of triangles on the back of their salt paper. 

These were cut out and patterns added using a gold or silver marker.

Then they glued them onto their background, making sure to overlap to create a sense of space.. 

Some Grade 4 - 6 results!

up close detail

Candy Canes in Oil Pastel

I first posted this lesson way back in 2011 HERE.

It's a great lesson in shading and how to turn a shape into a 3D looking form. 

On scrap paper, Grade 7 - 9 students drew a candy cane shape- most said this was the hardest step!

They then traced it onto grey construction paper and added diagonal stripes.

They use white to add a strong highlight in the middle and then blend away with their chosen colours. This year so many of my students went with the classic red and green colour scheme for some reason.

Once finished, these were cut out and glued onto black paper. 

Some of the Grade 7 - 9 results:

4th Grade Snow Angel Portraits

Winter is currently full on where I live in Canada so it's time to start busting out the winter themed art lessons! This is a project I did with my Grade 4 classes last year. I found the idea HERE on the amazing Deep Space Sparkle site. I modified the lesson a bit so it's more of a drawing lesson. 

I asked my students to draw themselves on white paper, then colour in using coloured pencils. These were then carefully cut out.

On separate paper they painted the outline of a snow angel using turquoise and 

white tempera mixed to create a value change. Once dry, the figures were glued on top. 

Finally, they added snowflake decorations in the background with a fine tip light blue marker. 

Super adorable Grade 4 results!

 

Leaf Prints with Sponged Backgrounds

This is one of my all-time favourite Fall projects. The only problem where I live is that our fall is so brief and we also don't have a huge variety of leaves to choose from near my school; we have mostly aspens. In this case, I ask the students to bring leaves from their backyards as some have a wider variety of interesting leaves to choose from. We have a park nearby so I pick some fresh leaves the morning of the project for kids who need them. It's best to use freshly fallen leaves that are still flexible. 

I've posted about this project previously HERE, where you can see all the steps. 

Grade 8 students start by making leaf prints on black paper using white tempera.  

This takes some practice so have lots of scrap paper ready. The next class, when the prints are dry, students colour in the black spaces of the leaves using pencil crayons. 

Then, using tempera, they choose colours to sponge print in the background. The can use one colour or mix colours. We use a combination of mini natural sponges that I bu in the craft section of Walmart or round bristle brushes for smaller spaces. The students just use these to stipple the paint onto the background. 

Some of the Grade 7 - 9 results:

close up detail