Grade Four: Mixed Media Winter Birch Tree Landscapes

Fourth Graders began their exploration of Birch Trees with a discussion about the natural beauty of things that we find in nature.  We decided that things like, waterfalls, animals, fields and sunsets were things that were naturally beautiful.  Then, we began our quest to capture the natural beauty of these objects in our artwork, like many famous artists have done before us!  We began with a resist out of tag board to cover the bottom on our snowy landscapes.  Then, the students used oil pastels to blend their skies, using warm and cool colors, adding suns, moons and fences to make it their own.  The trees were done on a separate piece of paper using a “dry” brush technique with cardboard and black paint.  When the trees dried they were attached to our background.  At this point our fourth graders had a discussion on light sources and shadows, they were then in charge of determining where the light source was in their picture, and where the shadows would be.  Finally, the students used a flicking technique to add falling snow to their pieces.  The students learned a lot, and put a lot of work into these pieces, but they were so pleased with the end result!