Impressionist Aspen Trees In The Fall Elementary Art Lesson
I love how colorful these are - I took my inspiration from Artist Melissa McKinnon
The way she does the leaves and the rich colors are so appealing!
I showed my students her website and also talked about Impressionist Painting and Painters.
There are many ways to teach this on Pinterest etc..., but here is how I did it.
Materials Needed
2 sheets of watercolor paper
Watercolor paint in blue, yellow, orange and red
Acrylic paint in black, grey, brown, green, red, yellow and orange
Paintbrushes and sponge daubers
Scissors
Glue
Stiff mat board or cardboard rectangles
Begin by doing the trees so they can dry while you paint the background.
One really great thing about this lesson is there is no drawing involved.
Begin by making random small blobs of black and grey paint in a vertical line spaced apart however you choose.
Next take the mat board or cardboard and drag it along each line of paint blobs downward vertically to create the side of the tree trunk.
Work quickly so the paint doesn't dry and next drag the mat board or cardboard horizontally across each individual tree from top to bottom. Not all the way across the paper but one tree at a time. If the edge of the mat board becomes too covered with paint turn it and use another edge. You don't want to have black trees, but white trees with black splotches.
Now set this aside to dry and get another piece of watercolor paper.
Next we are going to do a watercolor background.
I use liquid watercolor and demonstrate for the students.
Begin with loading your brush with blue paint and go all the way across your paper with the brush, when your brush starts to dry out add just water to the brush and go back over the blue some more leaving a wet edge.
Rinse the brush and add yellow, first with pigment only, and then with water and again leave a wet edge.
The beauty of watercolor is it will blend on the page, transitioning from blue to green to yellow.
Working quickly rinse and add orange and red in the same way.
Tilt your paper up and let the colors run together to get those lovely variations and blending of color.
Next dry this watercolor with a blow dryer or if you have time take a break and let it dry.
I explained to my students that the blue is the sky, yellow in the middle is leaves in the distance on the trees, and the orange and red are the leaves that have fallen to the ground.
Now cut your trees apart on the page of trees, you should be able to cut right down the middle of the black line on the edge to keep that black line on both trees.
I had the students arrange their trees to their satisfaction and then glue them to the background.
You can print some branches with the black paint and mat board if you have time.
Next are the leaves - this is a busy project!
I began by asking my students to start with brown or reddish brown first and do 10 dots on the lower part of the painting, balanced evenly. Mentioning these are the leaves that have fallen off the trees.
I was afraid if I turned them loose they would put the dots everywhere and not have room for the other colors, this worked out well.
Next we did red, then orange in the same manner. I mentioned to be sure and put some orange near the top because blue and orange are complimentary colors.
Finally we did yellow and I told them they could do as many yellow as they wanted.
We added just a few green leaves at the end.
Here are my young artists Fall Masterpieces!
Have fun Creating this joyful celebration of Fall!
