a faithful attempt: Birds of Canada in oil pastel

ABOUT THIS BLOG

"A Faithful Attempt" is designed to showcase a variety of K-12 art lessons, the work of my art students, as well as other art-related topics. Projects shown are my take on other art teacher's lessons, lessons found in books or else designed by myself. Thanks for visiting!
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I acknowledge, with deep respect, that I am gathered on Treaty 7 territory. I acknowledge the many First Nations, Métis and Inuit whose footsteps have marked these lands for generations. I respect the histories, languages and cultures of all the Indigenous peoples of Canada, whose presence continues to enrich our community.

Friday, March 14, 2025

Birds of Canada in oil pastel

This is a great lesson to teach oil pastel blending and use of colour. This project focuses on choosing a Canadian bird and drawing and colouring it as realistically as possible. This was taught to Grades 4-6 students.

I've taught this lesson previously- see their work HERE and HERE.

I let students research and choose their bird then I print out a colour photo of it. The choose a sheet of construction paper and loosely sketch out the shapes until they're happy with the drawing and the proportions are as accurate as possible.

Then they colour. We only ever use PENTEL brand oil pastels.

I encouraged them to lay down the colour really thick, to mix colours, and to create any type of background/habitat they wanted.