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Category Archives: painting

How to Paint Gorgeous Clouds with Watercolor Paints – 5th and 6th Grade

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Clouds.  Aren’t they amazing? Two years ago I took a very helpful watercolor painting class.  One of our assignments was to paint clouds. Connecting Art with Science I love to make connections with other subjects.  This one is perfect for my 5th/6th grade because in Science class they study cloud identification.  They come into my class with a broad understanding of clouds which makes my lesson richer. Clouds and Art Resource The Clouds in Art Gallery is amazing.  This gallery … Read more… →

Frogs in a Pond (with Monet) 1st Grade

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I love lessons where I can tie in different areas of study, art history and art techniques!  This is a project I developed that incorporates study of frogs, Monet and watercolor painting. To start this project, we learn about the artist Claude Monet and his paintings of ponds and lilypads.  We read a book about Monet from the Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists series. (This series is awesome for read-alouds in class.  I love the picture books about … Read more… →

African Cloth Painting– 3rd Grade

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The Intermediates (grade 3) are studying Africa in their Social Studies class.  We learned about the African Korhogo Clothes.  See this link for more details. This project focused on how symbols are used in African art.  The students designed their own painted Korhogo cloth on muslin.  They decorated the border with symbols and drew their main figure with Sharpie.  Then, they added paint with watercolor.

Abstract Oil Pastel Trees– 4th/5th grade

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This is a lesson I teach every year because the results are so beautiful!  Each of the kid’s drawings just turns out wonderful. The 4/5s drew trees to complement their studies in Science class. How can line be used creatively to make a stylized picture?  How can oil pastels be used effectively?   The students aimed to use line creatively and made stylized art.  A focus of the lesson was color mixing, blending and layering of the oil pastel. Steps: Day … Read more… →

Spooky Silhouettes– Kindergarten

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We just finished these lovely Halloween pictures today.  I don’t really like doing “holiday” art during art class unless I can tie in some solid art concepts.  (That’s why I sometimes do the fun crafty afterschool classes.)  For this project, the kindergartners learned a few art vocabulary words: Silhouette the outline or general shape of something…  a dark image outlined against a lighter background. Warm Colors the yellows and reds of the color spectrum, associated with fire, heat, sun, and warmer … Read more… →