Santa!

These are some of the Santa portraits my 8th graders finished back in December.  We've studied portraits previously, so this project was a great way to use those skills.  We used tempera paint and practiced shading in color to get the rich red hues. I love how they each have their own personality.  I have some seriously talented 8th graders!

This one is crazy realistic, he looks so distinguished!

 I love the shading in the hat on this one.  It's as if you could touch the soft velvet!  

This one's eyes are so striking!  I love how all of them turned out!

1st grade Santa paintings

A new one this year is first grade's Santa faces.  Another great quick project when I'm running out of days in December.  Things pop up here and there and I miss seeing a class in the rotation, so this one is a great in that they were able to complete it in just one art class. 

The sticky note flags helped to remind them where NOT to paint.  They get a little carried away sometimes! :)

Santa Clause suits!

I've seen this design floating around on Pinterest for several years, and this year I needed a super quick project for my 5th graders.  This one was perfect and we finished it completely in one day!  I love these!  We did a short value study with paint and practiced blending to show texture.