Rad Raccoon with Wet into Wet Watercolor in Warm and Cool Colors

 

This is a simplified Raccoon Project with either Warm colors on the Raccoon and Cool colors around the Raccoon.  Or Cool colors on the Raccoon and Warm colors around the Raccoon.  

It's a fun way to teach students about wet into wet and also how opposite colors on the color wheel create high contrast and balance.

Start with the outside shape of the raccoon's face - I'm going to let them trace the outside shape.

Put a dot in the center of the face about an inch and a half down from the top.

Next draw two wing shapes or a stretched out m.  From the middle to the top edge of the raccoon's mask.

Draw light until you get it right.  It's a little challenging to get the shapes to match on both sides.

At the bottom middle begin the two curves lines for the muzzle.

Continue those two lines up, then curve them towards the center and below the first line to the edge.

It's almost a parallel line below the first one, but a curve towards the middle instead of up.

Add the eyes, I'll give them a circle if they don't want to draw their own.

Add a curved line to the start the nose as shown.

Turn that into a rounded upside down triangle for the nose.

Draw a short line from the middle of the nose down and then a parallel line to the bottom for a mouth.

Add the inside ears and highlights to the eyes and nose.

Begin using a sharpie to create zig zag furry lines.

Now your Raccoon looks very furry.

Finally color in the eyes and nose leaving the highlight white.  Then erase the pencil lines that show.

I used warm and cool colored liquid watercolor and salt.

Each color is applied one at a time and in splotches.  

Remind yourself this isn't a controlled project and just let the colors do what they will.

I'm going to save the darkest colors for around the eyes.

Work quickly so the paint stays wet and mixes together.

I added pink inside the ears and orange around the yellow, then added a bit more yellow.  

Keep your brush dry between colors so it doesn't get too wet or puddles.

Now I added pink with red over the top for the lower mask.  

Be sure to keep the muzzle and eyebrows white.

Begin using cool colors in blotches around the outside.  

Leave a little space around the face white or they will mix together with the color on the raccoon. 

When Warm and Cool colors mix together you will often get brown.  Unless the color is made up of the same color, like blue can mix with yellow - green - more blue - bluish green - more yellow - yellow green.  Or Red can mix with blue - purple, or yellow can mix with red, orange.  But green and orange will make brown.  Red and green the same.  Blue and red also.  Purple and green too.  

You can mix one primary color with a secondary color that has the same color in it.  Blue/green, Yellow/green, Red/purple, Blue/purple, Yellow/orange, Red/orange.

That's why we are limiting our wet into wet to warm or cool colors together.

We are trying to avoid making mud : )

They can experiment on another piece of paper if you have the time.

I added green and then filled in the rest with purple to fill up most of the space around the raccoon.

Finally I added salt around the outside to create more texture.  

You can see the different patterns it creates in the top photo.

Have fun creating these Rad colored Raccoons, learning about mixing colors and wet into wet as well as Warm and Cool Colors!  No two will be alike!

 Spring Sheep Painting on Canvas

I have seen similar images on instagram, but no directions so thought I would post this lesson for anyone who wants to try it.

I really like the contrast of the warm colored background with the cool colors of the rest of the painting.  

It gives the art a nice energy and earthy feel with the orange under the green looking like the ground under the grass.  This is a great color mixing lesson, foreground to background,  and also highlights and shadows.

You will need:

8X10 Canvas or Watercolor Paper

Acrylic Paint:  Orange, green, blue, yellow, black and white

Brushes

Sponge dauber

Patterns if you want to use them

Here are the patterns for the sheep if you are teaching a group that would feel more confident using them.

If you want to teach it without the patterns a sheep is super simple to draw, an oval for the body, triangle for the head with long pointy sideways triangle ears.  The legs are a curved v.

I'm going to pre paint my students' canvases orange to save drying time.

Then they can sketch or trace their sheep and landscape layers.

 I'm going to have them paint their landscape first then add the sheep.

I used a flat rectangle brush and went up to the line I drew.  Then around the sheep.

For the next color I left a little orange between my next color and went up to the line again.

Then repeated this method.

The Bottom is just green from the bottle.

The Second layer adds yellow, not a whole lot but enough to look lighter.

The 3rd layer adds white to the green/yellow you mixed.

The top is a turquoise blue with a bit of cobalt blue and white.

I wanted the turquoise because it adds a little green.

After I get the layer of light blue on top (while it's still wet) I added some streaks of darker blues and also some white clouds.

After the background is dry (I used a blow dryer)

The sheep's wool is made with a sponge dauber.

Just use plain white and if you twist the sponge as you daub it make a woolly pattern.

I like to leave the edges fuzzy but the middle solid.

Next add a little blue to the white and add some blue shadows under the head and on the lower body with the round sponge.

These are the colors I mixed to get the lighter grey for the Sheep's black areas.

A little black goes a long way. I used a smaller pointy brush for the head and legs.

Now add some more white to the grey for highlights on the head and legs.

And finally just a little bit of plain white with a small brush to the lighter gray highlights.

This all adds depth to your composition.

Finally you can just draw the eyes, nose and mouth with a fine tip sharpie.

I did add two tiny white highlights to the eyes using a toothpick dipped in white paint.

A little about these very cute sheep, they are Scottish Blackface Sheep.  I left off the horns so mine is a youngster : )

Happy Spring!

Some of my student's work

Winter Snow Scene with Houses Using Acrylic White Paint Art Lesson

 

Supplies you will need:

White acrylic paint

Toothbrushes and paintbrushes

Blue paper

House shapes out of cardstock

Round sponge dauber

White colored pencil

Using shapes cut out of cardstock stick them where you choose with masking tape.  

You can just use squares and rectangles and paint the chimneys later.

Create the snow by pulling your finger across the bristles of the toothbrush with white paint on it.

Hold the brush close to the paper and put more splatters of snow where the houses are.

Create the moon in the sky with a sponge dauber.

Using a brush add the snow to the foreground and add the smoke to the chimneys.

Remove the taped down houses and add snow to the rooftops and chimney.  Add any other details you want like trees etc...

Now add the windows and doors to all the houses using the white pencils.

Great lesson that is pretty much foolproof for any age!

Here are a few examples of my students' work:

 Gingerbread Party - A Mixed Media Holiday Art Project

This is a fun project with lots of bright happy colors and festive decorated Gingerbread Cookies.

I'm going to have some gingerbread cookies on hand as a treat while we wait for them to dry!

You will need:

Watercolor paper

Watercolors (I use liquid watercolors)

Oil Pastels

White Acrylic paint

Glue sticks

First paint your cookies brown with watercolor paint.

I cut my cookies out of watercolor paper using a Cricut, but you can have cookie cutters on hand for them to trace and cut out also.

While those are drying we'll work on the background and come back to them later.

Next add your cookie sprinkles to the background using oil pastels.  Ask your students to do them nice and dark so they will resist the watercolor paint.

I thought it would be fun to have a festive background for the cookies, like a messy countertop with sprinkles.

Next the students will paint their background.  

I'm going to give them the choice of yellow, red/pink, green or blue.

They'll do a watercolor wash over the sprinkles.

Now these can be set aside to dry while we "Ice" the cookies.

I used white acrylic paint and a small brush.  For the dots I used a bamboo skewer dipped in paint and dotted onto the cookie.  Both sides are great, one for bigger dots and one for smaller dots.

When they have all their cookies decorated and dry they can glue them on the background.

Next we'll add the shadow around to cookie to give their art a little depth.  Help them choose a darker color oil pastel that compliments their colors but is also darker than the background.  They just trace around one side.  Whichever side they pick they need to do all the cookies the same.

For the yellow I used purple, complimentary colors, 

for the pink/red I used green, 

but for the blue I used dark blue instead of orange because I wanted a darker color than orange.

You could add other colors of icing to the gingerbread but I really like the contrast of the brown and white against the bright background, it really makes the POP!

After I teach this I'll post some photos of young artist creations!