Watercolor Tropical Animals

Submitted by: Juli Fraher, Pontiac Junior High

Grade level: Jr. High School

Procedures:

1. View slide show on Oaxacan sculpture.
2. Identify pattern in those sculptures.
3. Review the four basic watercolor techniques of wash, impasto, serendipity and spatter.
4. Instruct students to wash a base of watercolor over the surface of the animal. Avoid complementary colors next to each other. Students can do bands of color or areas of color.
5. Define pattern. (I define a pattern as 5 or more of a single object.)
6. Paint the animal using watercolor wash and tempera patterns.
7. Cut out and turn in.

Materials:

18 X 24" (46 x 61 cm) Watercolor Paper, Drawing Pencils, Prang Watercolor Pan Sets and Brushes, water, Tempera Paint.

Click on the images for full size

Students will:
1. Define the term "pattern" and identify its use in Oaxacan sculpture.
2. Review and demonstrate the four basic watercolor techniques.
3. Review Color Wheels and complementary colors.
4. Use watercolor to create the base for a tropical animal and paint 20 different patterns using tempera paint. Emphasize that there will be 100 motifs total.

Tips:

Use Molly Hawkins House Student Watercolor paper (I can't find this paper. If anyone has a link to it, please post below). It is cheap and works great for this project. I made templates of the animals for the students to use. We have done parrots, monkeys, iguanas, etc. They individualized them by putting tropical drinks in their hands or sunglasses and bikinis, etc. I used the "Lines and Patterns" handout (p.201) from Helen Hume's The Art Teacher's Survival Guide for Elementary and Middle Schools. It really helped the students when they were stuck trying to create a pattern.

State Standards:

State Goal 25: Know the language of the arts.
As a result of their schooling, students will be able to:
A. Understand the sensory elements, organizational principles and expressive qualities of the arts.
25.A.3d Identify and describe the elements of value, perspective, and color schemes; the principles of contrast, emphasis and unity; and the expressive qualities of thematic development and sequence.
State Goal 26:Through creating and performing, understand how works of art are produced.
As a result of their schooling, students will be able to:
A. Understand processes, traditional tools and modern technologies used in the arts.
26.A.3e Describe how the choices of tool/technologies and processes are used to create specific effects in the arts.