4th Grade learns and reviews watercolor techniques to mix different values of brown to render these beautifully drawn and painted Missions 3-Dimensionally!
We started out by setting up our desks. Each student was provided a "wax paper packet" including, watercolor paper, watercolor strip, watercolor lid/tray, brush, paper towel square, sharpie, and photocopy. Each pair of students shared a water can, brown and blue watercolor pigments.
I then showed them a demonstration by turning the lights off in the classroom and shining a flashlight onto 3-Dimensional foam shapes I brought. (THEY LOVE THIS!) We discussed how a light source directly affects shadow on a form, and how we can render this by painting with different values of brown (light and dark).
Next we, drew a simple contour using Sharpie pen, and chose a side of the paper for our light source. Next, we together, set up out palettes by making 4 "pools" of water on our lids. Starting with the lightest value - I asked the students how many "dips" of brown paint should we add to pool #1, #2, #3, etc. The goal was to understand that you can make many values of one color by experimenting with the ratios of pigment to water. We understood that the darker valued would be used to paint areas of shadow, and light values would be areas of our drawing which are facing our light source.
Lastly, we created values of blue for the sky.
