Watercolor Trees - Explore Art Smithptsa

LESSON PRESENTATION INSTRUCTIONS VALUE

WATERCOLOR TREES

Students will paint a realistic tree and its background using Watercolors to see the different values it makes.

Time Required: 1 hour Artist: John Constable "A View on The Stour near Denham" (print) Samples: Find in the black K binder in the supply room.

Materials: Watercolor paper, pencils Pictures of tree, paper towels Watercolor paints, brush and Dixie cups for water Drying rack Presentation: Discuss what value is. Talk about how with line you can draw a thick trunk of the tree and thin lines to make its branches. What kind of tree does this make? Fall or winter? Show them examples of spring trees. Show through time the trees leaves get bigger so the tree gets bushier. Point out how the leaves make a roundish shape on top of the trunk. Demonstrate how to use watercolors the right way. Remember you will be teaching this to kids probably for the first time so go slow and show every little detail. What water does to the paint, how to hold a brush, how to stroke a brush, how to wipe off a brush. Procedure:

1. Hand out the watercolor paper and the other supplies. Have them write their names on the back.

2. Place their tree vertically. Discuss how we want the top of the tree to fill the upper portion of our paper. Paint a blob of light green on top of your page to represent the tree top. Slowly add more color to get the darker values of the tree top.

3. Now have them paint the trunk. Remind them that you don't just see brown in the truck but red and orange.

4. Next go back to the green and paint the ground, meanwhile pointing out the horizon line should come up behind the tree trunk.

5. Finally include the sky using blue and purple values. Making sure to start out light. Add lots of water.

6. Put them on the drying rack and mount them later.

Trunks:

? Taper the width of the trunk from bottom to top, as well as branches and twigs. ? For more character, paint trunks sideways in small strokes rather from top to bottom in

one long stroke. ? Trees in dense woodland tend to be vertical; lone trees may be angled due to wind.

Branches: ? Branches aren't straight, aren't the same width throughout, and don't grow parallel to

each other. ? Avoid putting branches opposite each other on a tree trunk; trees aren't symmetrical

unless they've been pruned that way. ? Make branches cross over each other to create depth. Add appropriate shadows. ? Leave gaps in the foliage and show branches in the gaps.

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download