These Fall Landscapes were created on 150lb Jack Richeson Watercolor paper. The students looked at a slideshow of many different fall themes.... harvest time, spooky sky's and Halloween. They chose the kind of fall landscape they wanted to paint.
After drawing our ideas in our sketchbooks, I encouraged students to draw very little on the watercolor paper, but rather plan and paint the sky and ground first. They could always draw more later on top of the paint. This keeps them from painting the objects first, then struggling with the space around them. Since most objects were going to be painted as a silhouette, I was not as concerned with details on objects.
I also encouraged the use of foreground, middleground and background and how to give a sense of space with near and far.
This lesson gives lots of room for creativity! Students who looked at the handouts of the slideshow did more and had more success. They did not copy necessarily, but took good ideas from several. I plan to have even more handout options next time!
