Falling leaves, ages 10-12

I forgot to photograph the student work last night,

but wanted to show my example of the project.

This is a wonderful project that gives the student practice in many different watercolor techniques, including wet on wet, softening edges, dry bush and salt textures.

 We worked on this project one step at a time so that the students really understood each technique.

We also talked about the movement in the image.

They all did a great job.

Watercolor and ink birds, ages 10 - teens

This is a great project to let the students get a feel for wet on wet watercolor technique. They also got to  use patterns/zentangles to add another layer of interest. Great job!

one elephant

and the rest are birds

Watercolor Hummingbirds, age 9-12

I like to show the students examples of stained glass (I use a Tiffany book) before I introduce them to this watercolor project. They get to see complex subjects broken down to simple shapes. The glass has many colors and direction in each piece that together makes an interesting whole. So the students drew their hummingbirds and flowers breaking them down to simple shapes and then outlined in sharpie. Then they made many paint puddles and worked wet on wet to paint each "piece of glass".
Another favorite!

Happy Halloween Haunted Houses, teen class

We talked about how different types of lines can give us a different feeling in our art projects. Curved lines are softer and friendlier. Jagged and angled lines can give a threatening feeling, feeling of height...
The students used their knowledge of lines and made some pretty creepy watercolor and ink houses.

and my example

Black Glue and Watercolor Owls, ages 9-11

I found a black glue, owl project online and just knew my students would have a great time with this.  They all did a wonderful job!

Colorful Animal Portraits, ages 7-11

The students picked a favorite animal photo and we drew the portrait in pencil. They looked for simple shapes and then filled in the detail. Then they took black crayon and shaded in the dark areas and showed the fur textures. They chose their favorite color and used water color washes to finish.