Abstract sunsets 2014

I posted these last year from my 4th graders and this year I thought they turned out even better!  We started with drawing the sunset and waves, then traced in permanent marker.  Painting with watercolor, we used cool colors for the water and warm colors for the sunset.  After the paint dried, we used colored pencils to add patterns and thicken our black lines to give the appearance of stained glass.

Cat Silhouette Sunsets - 5th grade

I did a similar project last year with 5th grade that used blue and purple hues to create a glowing moon.  I saw this one on Pinterest and just had to try it with my 5th graders!  This project is great for teaching painting techniques, using just the right amount of pressure to create thin lines.  Students have a tendency to smash their brushes onto the paper to get as much paint out as they can before dipping the brush again!  I try to encourage them to dip their brush as often as they need to in order to make smooth lines. 

4th grade abstract sunsets

I know there are a lot of examples on this post, but there were so many great ones, I had a difficult time choosing which ones to post!  I could have posted them all!  They are beautiful.  We drew the abstract sun and waves, then used watercolors for the "warm colors" sunset and "cool color" waves.  Last, we enhanced our paintings with colored pencil by adding simple designs to the waves and thickening our black outlines.