Watercolor Still Life
Studio Lesson (9th-12th)
Students will create a finished watercolor painting by first creating a still life from various objects provided, and being instructed how to consider lighting, color, and overlap to create an interesting composition. They will then use their own photo of their still life to create the finished painting. Students will be able to use a variety of watercolor techniques, and take influence from a myriad of watercolor artists including John Singer Sergeant and Chien Chung Wei.
Objectives
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Complete a series of watercolor exercises (Cr)
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Design and photograph a still life, keeping in mind composition, lighting, and visual interest (Cr, Pr)
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Paint their still life using the watercolor techniques they practiced, along with inspiration from various artists shown (Cr)
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Explain their artwork, the choices they made, and what they like about the artwork in a gallery walkthrough of finished paintings. (Re, Cn)
Resources
Steps:
Students will begin the lesson with a pre-assessment on their skills. They'll complete a short series of watercolor exercises, using washes, gradient, dry and wet brush technique, and finally create a 3-D shape using these methods. 3-D shapes will be looked at for ability to create depth.
Watercolor Techniques
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Creating a Still Life
Students will be shown how to make an interesting still life to paint from. They will be able to use props from around the room, and create their own still life they can then photograph and print out for the next step of the painting.
Students use the photo print to sketch their still life onto watercolor paper for painting. The paper will be mounted on foamcore or drawing board to keep it from buckling.
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Note: This step can be adapted to classes with less experience drawing by allowing the photo to be traced and using tracing paper to transfer the image onto the final material.
Transferring to Paper
Students will be asked to refer to their sketchbook exercises while painting, as well as instructional videos and example artists such as Chien or John Singer. They will be asked to use the techniques they practiced or ones they have seen to achieve a range of values and colors.
Building Washes
Before removing the finished paintings from their mount, the students will have a critique to see what they may be able to improve on their paintings. They will have one extra class to add details and fix some aspects of their paintings before removing the mounting/tape and taking photos of their finished work for portfolios.
Critique
Student Work
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