Once students paint the sky and the watered down shadows in the snow, we pull off the masking tape. I think this is the one time that cheap masking tape is actually a good thing! Less ripping of the artwork!
1. Rip off the masking tape. I tell the students to pull the tape at an angle from the tree, not straight down the tree.
2. At the sinks, I put two or three paper plates with some black tempera, and paint scrapers.
3. We use the flat side of the paint scraper to add the birch tree lines. Dip it just a little bit in the paint.
4. Lay the scraper on the edge of the tree and pull it in one direction. Do this on both sides of the tree.
You can definitely see where I had more paint and less paint on my scraper. You don't want to go overboard!
My first year of teaching, we did winter birch trees, and I can already see how much I've grown in how and what I teach. We did birch trees on a separate piece of paper with sharpies, cut them out and glued them to our painting before adding the shadows. I like the paint scraper technique I found much better! Though, I did just realize, as I'm posting this, that I completely forgot about having the kids use the salt technique in their sky! :(
Oooo I love these! We do an Autumn variation:
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... but I think we'll have to try these next year!
Those are nice! I like how you had the students flick the paint for the grass! I may have to steal that for when I do the spring version of these birch trees! Thanks!
DeleteIn case you don't have enough scrapers, you don't even need them! I didnt have any, so I cut up rectangles from my shipping cartons to work as scrapers. They work great, and the best part is that you toss them in the garbage when done, so no washing necessay!
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