Beautiful Birch Trees

We made amazing birch trees in art class. There were several steps involved. Masking tape was used to form the trees. We thought 4-7 trees would be a good number to fit the paper. The tape had to be pressed down really well. Watercolour paints were used for the background and salt was added to the wet paint for a neat effect. Once the paint completely dried, we brushed off the salt and we were able to do the big reveal of the tree outlines as we gently peeled the tape off the paper. The trees were white and no paint had leaked through! Black crayons were used to outline the trees, and to draw on the bark.

We reflected on our artwork to explain something that was hard, something that was different, something we learned or liked, or maybe something we would change next time.

Here are our thoughts:
It was hard to draw the black lines. I would make my lines straighter. -Lily
I liked how my trees crossed. The lines were hard to make. -Desi
It was hard to peel the tape off really gently. It was hard to trace the trees with crayon. -Brooke
It was hard to make lines with the crayon. I like the colours. -Dominic
I have never painted over tape before. I would not change anything because it looks fine. -Brody
I learned how to make birch trees. I dumped a lot of salt in one spot. -Chase
I thought that we would do straight trees but trees are not always straight. I thought I would not do a pattern, but then I did a pattern. -Bianca
It was hard to keep my lines in the trees. It was neat to paint over the tape. -Adria
The tape was hard to get on because you have to spread the tape out. The salt made a good pattern. -Tyson
I learned how to paint trees. The tape made the trees really straight and white. -Jack
The hard thing was to do the sides of the trees. I would change my trees to go different ways. -Marshall
It was hard to keep the black lines on the very edge. Don't put way too much salt on the paint. Theo
It was hard to brush the salt off because there was lots of salt. The trees are straight. -Ava
I learned it was cool how we made the trees. We took tape and we put it on the paper and painted over it. We put on salt then we tore the tape off. -Blake
Doing the black lines was hard because it was hard to stay straight. I like the colours. -Andrew
I did good on my birch trees. I learned that I could tape it and I wouldn't get any paint on the trees. -Arianna
It was hard to trace the trees with black crayon. I learned that birch trees have lines. -Charlotte
The lines were hard to make. I would make the lines outside of the trees really dark. -Ben

The results are absolutely beautiful. Please have a peek at them on Artsonia. As I have been driving to work this week I have noticed the colours of the sky look just like the backgrounds created by the artists in Room 2. Simple breathtaking.
-Mrs. T :)

Spring Art

Water is spread on the paper.

I discovered an art project on Pinterest thanks to Jen King whose blog is, "A Day in the Life of this Art Teacher". We used watercolour paints which are always a hit in Room 2. Students were asked to select either warm or cool colours for their background. An eyedropper with rubbing alcohol was squeezed on to the paint to add a neat effect. Birds will be added to the background to complete the project.

Did you pick cool colours?

Or did you pick warm colours?

Here are our thoughts:
I squeezed the eyedropper and the drops made the paint lighter and it made bubble shapes. -Kyla
I like to paint. The colours look good. -Brayden

Mine looked really, really cool. When I put on the rubbing alcohol it looked like it was exploding. -Hunter
I liked painting the background. -Kayden

I liked that when you dropped on the rubbing alcohol the paint spreads and it looks cool. -Isla

I liked that we got to mix colours together. My colours were purple, blue and green. -Ashley

I had to paint with water and I covered the whole page. -Andrew

It was hard to make sure that the dots weren't too big. -Xoie

I liked when we painted and we got to cover the paper with water and paint. -Rylee

I liked doing the watercolour paper and today we might do the birds. -Diamond

I picked cool colours for my background. -Saydee
I liked everything about the painting and using the eyedropper. -Kody

I liked making the different colours on the paper. -Ezra

I picked the warm colours red, orange and yellow. I like how my background looks after it dried. -Shelby

I liked painting. I liked putting on the rubbing alcohol on the paper. It made a nice design. Mine is beautiful. -Brianna

These artists did a great job on their backgrounds. Now we have to work on the birds. We will post our work on Artsonia when we are done.
-Mrs. T :)