Oil Pastel Leaf Shading
This is a lesson that allows students to practice color blending with oil pastels and/or watercolor in a way that almost can't go wrong.
Materials:
- leaves with strong veining, such as sycamore leaves, one for each student and extras.
- oil pastels, with a black piece for every student
- watercolor trays and brushes
- regular white paper
- clipboards
This art lesson is nature-inspired. It can be done inside, but students are much more inspired by nature if they have the opportunity to be outside. Students will probably be relieved that the first step in this art project is easy. Instruct them to put the leaves, veins up, under their paper. Demonstrate how they will do a leaf rubbing by moving the black pastel over the leaf lightly at first, pressing slightly harder as they gain a feel for what works best to get a good print of the leaf shape and veins.
Once they have a good print in black and white (or two or five), demonstrate how they can play with oil pastel and watercolor by adding various greens to the leaf, or fall colors, or fantasy colors.
After they have had a chance to practice and play with the media, tell students that you expect one 'best work' to be handed in for you to evaluate, and/or for the class to critique (comment on each other's art making and art work. You might have heard teachers encourage students to give 'three starts and a wish'). You can also encourage students to:.
Describe - Tell us about the art work. What do you see?
Analyze - Look for the elements of art in the art work. How does the artist treat lines, shapes, textures, forms, space, and values? Look for the principles of design in the art work. How does the artist use balance, color, size, variety, proportion, pattern, and rhythm. (May not be relevant for this art project).
Reflect - What can the artist be proud of? What can the artist improve?
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| https://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2012/03/leaf-relief.html |
Leaf Relief*
This project gives the extra opportunity to learn that the word 'relief' has more than one meaning.
The fact that this art project involves spray adhesive and spray paint is a good excuse to do it outside. This project has been done with 3rd graders, but can be done by students older than that, too.
Materials
- leaves with strong veining
- cardstock cut into 3x4 or 5x7 inch rectangles
- bits of textured material: canvas, mesh fabric, etc
- lots of aluminum foil, cut into 7x9 inch rectangles
- 3M Spray Glue
- cheap big-box-store black and/or brown spray paint
- dropcloth (old bedsheet)
- green-yellow sponges (can cut in half to have enough for less)
It's always helpful to have tried to do an art project yourself, both to see how it works, and to have a sample to show the class so they know what they're working towards.
In class, do it again. Demonstrate to students how you make design choices as you arrange onto your cardstock a leaf or two. Once you're happy with your design, spray the cardstock with some spray adhesive, and commit the leaf arrangement onto it.
Then you neatly lay a piece of foil onto the cardstock, fold over the edges, and start lightly rubbing the foil down over the leaf, pressing slightly harder onto the foil as you become more familiar with what it takes to get a crisp relief.
Once students get to work on theirs, you walk around and guide. You also spray the foil leaf relief that get finished. The relief gets completely covered! Never fear; next class, after some drying time, students take the abrasive side of the sponge and lightly remove some of the spray paint. That involves design decisions too that you may want to model before students get started.
Students who work fast can start a second project, adding bits of texture with/under the leaves and trying different design decisions.
*Lesson idea from https://cassiestephens.blogspot.com/2012/03/leaf-relief.html
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