The Rainbow Fish -
Watercolor Painting
Lesson Summary
This lesson was taught by Leah Vilhauer and Kelsey Sandmeier. The lesson began with the teachers explaining different watercolor techniques. The class took a 8 1/2" by 11" piece of watercolor paper and divided it into 6 equal parts which were each used for a technique. The first one we did was called flat wash where you try to make the color on the page even. The second one we did was called graduated wash where you go from a light value to a dark value of the the same color by changing the amount of water in your brush. The third one we did was called wet-in-wet. When using this technique you start by using the paintbrush to apply clear, clean water to the paper. After you have applied the water you use different colors and drop them onto the paper by squeezing the end of the paintbrush. The fourth technique used was resists. This is created by drawing with a wax crayon on the paper and then painting with the watercolor over the crayon. The crayon resists the paint and therefore they are both visible. The fifth technique was the use of watercolor crayons. To use these you draw on the paper with them and the apply clean water over the color(s) with the paintbrush. You can then decide how dark or light you want the color. The final box was used to show how texture can be created with watercolors. In this box I took a permanent marker and used it to draw fish scales which were then painted using the watercolors. After we did this we then had to make a background of the sea to go with the book The Rainbow Fish using either warm or cool colors. After the background was made we then painted the fish using either warm or cool colors (whichever was not used on the background). Also part of making our project was to use at least 2 of the 4 (color, texture, line, value) elements and principles that were talked about in the lesson.
Extension Activity
An extension activity for this lesson would be to create a large mural of a underground sea life to tell the story of the Rainbow Fish using watercolor paintings. The students would make the scenes from the book by using the watercolor techniques mentioned above. The students would each get to make the Rainbow Fish at the different times in his amount of shiny scales he had. The students would create the background to match what life would be like under the sea, like in the book.
This lesson was taught by Leah Vilhauer and Kelsey Sandmeier. The lesson began with the teachers explaining different watercolor techniques. The class took a 8 1/2" by 11" piece of watercolor paper and divided it into 6 equal parts which were each used for a technique. The first one we did was called flat wash where you try to make the color on the page even. The second one we did was called graduated wash where you go from a light value to a dark value of the the same color by changing the amount of water in your brush. The third one we did was called wet-in-wet. When using this technique you start by using the paintbrush to apply clear, clean water to the paper. After you have applied the water you use different colors and drop them onto the paper by squeezing the end of the paintbrush. The fourth technique used was resists. This is created by drawing with a wax crayon on the paper and then painting with the watercolor over the crayon. The crayon resists the paint and therefore they are both visible. The fifth technique was the use of watercolor crayons. To use these you draw on the paper with them and the apply clean water over the color(s) with the paintbrush. You can then decide how dark or light you want the color. The final box was used to show how texture can be created with watercolors. In this box I took a permanent marker and used it to draw fish scales which were then painted using the watercolors. After we did this we then had to make a background of the sea to go with the book The Rainbow Fish using either warm or cool colors. After the background was made we then painted the fish using either warm or cool colors (whichever was not used on the background). Also part of making our project was to use at least 2 of the 4 (color, texture, line, value) elements and principles that were talked about in the lesson.
Extension Activity
An extension activity for this lesson would be to create a large mural of a underground sea life to tell the story of the Rainbow Fish using watercolor paintings. The students would make the scenes from the book by using the watercolor techniques mentioned above. The students would each get to make the Rainbow Fish at the different times in his amount of shiny scales he had. The students would create the background to match what life would be like under the sea, like in the book.