Outside my window

We're still working on H's book. Monday she decided that her next "important thing" would be a window. Luckily, the Usborne book had another great project for me to adapt. ..

We did a lesson on how far-away things look lighter and greyer than object close up. Showing perspective with color is one on the easiest ways to create depth in a painting.

We practiced mixing colors and painted a background of hills. After that was dry, we painted the window frame and bars and curtains. We painted a flower pot for her window on a spearate piece, cut it out and glued it on. The leaves of the plant are painted on the background and highlighted with chalks.

This is an easy project to do, but still allows for a fair amount of latitude on the part of the young artist. Neither of my kids really likes to have a totally prescribed painting to make. They chose the color of their hills, H choosing (what else?) pink and purple. E chose to make a southwest scene. They chose the style of their curtains, their color, and the object for their window sill. I am happy that E is finally getting out of the use-every-color syndrome. He is finally thinking about what colors might work together in his picture. His choices aren't always what I would make, but at least we aren't living in rainbow land anymore. Lol

I just did predictable-green hills, but they are fine and gave me a good opportunity to show the kids what I meant about color mixing.

I love how these pictures came out. Our little museum is already getting quite full!

His picture isn't quite finished, but I'll put it up anyway...I love the canyons!

Materials:

Paper

Paint (I used Bio Color. Acrylic or tempera would do nicely.)

Brushes

Landscape photos that show 'layers' of hills, mountains, etc.

Tips on procedure:

I started them off looking at some photos. That way we were able to see what things "really" look like. They picked their color for their hills, and we painted lightest to darkest. Don't foget that is only takes a few drops to tint a white base, so add your darker color little by little. Make 3-4 layers of hills, varying the height and contours.

Make sure the background is completely dry before adding the other details.

Oh, and I did help to steady H's hand while she painted the window bars. She never would have been happy with lopsided ones, and I wanted her to feel proud of her picture.