One of the lessons I created, taught and took the most pride
in was the watercolor project entitled “Watercolor Menagerie”. When I
initially began the planning for this lesson I had a discussion with my supervising
practitioner about what topics and materials he did not have the opportunity to
demonstrate and teach about over the past few years. When he mentioned
watercolor I immediately thought about the numerous watercolor techniques I had
learned at Holyoke Community College. I imagined how the 8th
grade students might get excited about seeing how various materials interact
with watercolor paints and how they would utilize them to create unique and
visually stunning images. I determined that the main goal for both the
lesson and my students was experimentation, to release control over the medium
and allow the materials to do what they do naturally. I chose to focus
the subject matter, of the final painting, on real life vibrant and colorful
animals (like the lorikeets you see below).
On the day of the first lesson I had my students create a
watercolor reference sheet, on which they would practice 8 – 12 different
painting techniques, that they could later refer to when deciding how to paint
their colorful animal.
Over the course of thirty-five minutes I operated on a repeating schedule of showing students how to paint the first two watercolor techniques flat wash and graded wash, and then have them return to their seats to practice those same techniques on their reference sheet. The students then returned to the demonstration table to watch me teach the next two techniques and then returned to their seats to practice those same techniques.
Students learned how to paint: Flat wash, Graded wash, Dry brush, Wet on wet blending, Splatter, Salt additive, Pointillism, Rubbing alcohol additive, Oil pastel resist, Straw blow and Sponge dabbing.
Once their reference sheets were complete students then
created rough sketches of their chosen animal in order to figure out the size,
shape and position of where that animal would be located on the paper. To
add clarity to the project I had students break their drawings up into sections
where the various watercolor techniques we practiced could be utilized.
Once this drawing was completed the students cut out their
animals shape, then cut that shape up into “puzzle pieces”, traced these pieces
onto a sheet of watercolor paper, and then painted over the penciled
outlines. After the paint dried the students would cut these pieces out,
reassemble them on a sheet of colored cardstock paper and then glue the
individual pieces down.
The following images are of
students working diligently on their reference sheets, preparatory sketches and
watercolor animal paintings.
At the conclusion of this project, these 8th grade students had created impressive works of art that they should really be proud of. From the outset most of the students in the class had a basic familiarity with watercolor painting. After the introduction of these 12 painting techniques and during the sketching stage they began to think differently about the medium of watercolor, how they would approach this assignment and it is my hope they use these techniques later in their artistic careers. Personally, it was fascinating to see the student’s creativity take this project in directions I had not originally anticipated. I really enjoyed observing the students getting excited while trying out each new technique and then viewing the final menagerie completely assembled. Thus, being in a classroom and having one-on-one discussions with students about their developing ideas and offering words of encouragement when a student is puzzled is why I am fond of teaching. From this lesson I learned how even with the most detailed planning, an assignment would evolve with unexpected challenges and changes that inevitably occur when student’s creativity is released. Everyone did a fantastic job!
Students’ work presented in
one of two display cases at Williams Middle School.
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