Artwork by Allison T.
This challenging lesson was all about creating different values of blue to give the illusion of a full moon lighting up the night sky, then using perspective to lend a feeling of viewing the sky up through a forest of tall trees.
After reviewing the art element of color value and specifically making tints of a color using white, fourth graders painted their backgrounds with only blue and white tempura paints, beginning with pure white for their moons, then slowly adding small amounts of blue to their white as they worked toward the edges of their paper. This is a real challenge for fourth grade students, but they really pulled it off beautifully! The following week, we discussed how artists use perspective to give a sense of depth or space to their scenes and how trees look very different depending on one's perspective. The students then drew "wiggly triangles" that pointed toward their moon and added branches. They went over their tree outlines with black marker then painted in the trunks with black tempura. The final step was adding the stars (some students preferred to call them snowflakes - works, too!) with a small brush (one student creatively suggested stamping with the handle end the brush, which also worked great) and white tempura. The final result is a worm's-eye view of a moonlit night in the forest.
Artwork by Megan M.
Artwork by Mia S.
