Grade Level
9-10, 11-12Duration
4-5 87-minute block periods
Materials
Watercolor sets, brushes, paper, transparency paper, camera (teacher), copier, overhead projector
To create texture with the watercolor: salt, plastic, bubble wrap, sponges, gauze, cheesecloth, rice, tissue paper, bubbles, found objects (like spools or buttons) to press into the wet paint, etc
Optional: Increase working time with spray mist bottles to add extra water if the classroom is dry
Media
Watercolor
Lesson Objectives
For the student to:
• think about shapes and find shapes to create their portraits.
• learn the concept of resist by masking off the lit areas of their face.
• demonstrate various wet-into-wet watercolor texture techniques when developing the dark areas of their faces.
Introductory Activity
For this assignment, students would pose for photos. The teacher would take side-lit photos of students and print them two to a page on a black-and-white copier.
Lesson Process
Students will then use these photos to trace shapes they identify on transparency paper. This requires a lot of decision-making on their part. (Students must make a lot of judgments on where a lit shape starts and ends. *While there might be ways to create the shapes digitally, the teacher wanted the students to decide about the shapes and lighting instead of having a computer do it for them. For a beginning class, this is good practice that develops skills.
We then projected the tracings to enlarge and transferred them to watercolor paper.
Students taped the watercolor paper to a board and used calligraphy pens and fingers to apply liquid masking fluid. If masking fluid is unavailable, masking tape or white crayon might be possible with some paper.
When dry, they wet the entire paper, added lots of watercolor, and put bubble wrap, crumpled toweling, salt, plastic wrap, or anything they wanted from their prior watercolor experiments. When dry, remove the resist and add materials.
Vocabulary
light, portrait, shape, texture, wet-in-wetResources
A resource when talking about shape and light on a face, this might be an excellent resource to look at, Art Tutorial: Light and shadow on a face
Creating texture with watercolor, Six Ways To Add Texture To Watercolor, 8 Advanced Watercolor Texture Techniques
Author & Website/Blog
Jill Van
Supporting Images
