large watercolors inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe

During the hike at the Drawing from Nature camp through Seymour Art, the kids spent time collecting a variety of nature's treasures. 

It could be anything they found interesting.

There was quite a variety of items when we got back to the gallery, leaves, shells, pinecones and feathers just to name a few. There would of been a dead jelly fish amongst the list, but I drew the line at jelly fish coming back to the gallery.

Crazy, I know. 

maple leaf, 11 year old

Before starting this project, I showed the students Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings. We discussed why she chose to paint them so large. I also pointed out how abstract some of the flowers became by enlarging the flower so much only a small part was visible.

seashell,  11 year old

I then asked each student to go through their bag and find an item they wanted to enlarge and highlight in their artwork. An item they wanted the viewer to stop and notice in a new and interesting way, something they more than likely usually just walked by and didn't pay much attention to in the past.

fern leaf, 6 year old

I also let them know that they did not need to draw this realistically. I encouraged them to create their own unique style while paying attention to the details of the item in front of them. I also explained that they could use any colors they wanted for painting. I quickly went over how they could exaggerate the colors they already saw in the item or use color to create a certain mood. I wanted them to understand they had lots of artistic decisions, all of which should be made to please none other than themselves.

bird's eye view of pinecone, 11 year old

Since the paper was so large, the kids worked out their drawings directly on the final paper. I showed them how if they drew very lightly with the pencil, they could easily erase any unwanted lines without any trace being left on the paper of their existence. I find by drawing one line dark and one very light, then using the eraser and allowing the kids to visual see the difference, is really the only explanation needed to convince them to keep the lines barely visible while creating a sketch.

I also asked them to have their item touch at least three sides of the paper in hopes of encouraging them to draw big.

sea pods, 8 year old

When they were happy with their sketches, they went over their pencil lines with a permanent black marker.

sea pods, 7 year old

Then I gathered them around and show them a variety of things they could do with liquid watercolor. When you look at all these paintings, keep in mind the children were only given red, yellow and blue color. I am always so impressed with the color mixing they do when using this medium and for the most part, they do all the color mixing directly on the paper.

sea shell, 6 year old

Some of the techniques I showed them with the liquid watercolor before they started their paintings was wet on wet, blooming, salt, blotting, and scratching. And as usual, wet on wet and salt got the biggest response of "oooo's" and "ahhhh's".

By the time I was finished with the demonstration, they could not wait to get started.

barnacles on a shell, 7 year old

As always, I asked them to start with their backgrounds first. This is truly like putting kids in front of a Christmas tree with piles a wrapped presents underneath and asking them to wait for Christmas morning, the anticipation of waiting to paint the hero of the work is killer.

ferns, 11 year old

But the students also realize the reward is sweet. It is always easier to paint over the background with great results than painstakingly trying put the background in behind the focus of the artwork.

ferns, 11 year old

The kids had a lot of fun creating these works. The room got very quiet as they got lost in the process of working with the watercolors. Having the opportunity, (thanks to the Curator), to work on such large paper was a very big treat. And in the end, the kids were all so proud of these pieces.

maple leaves, 7 year old

Like Georgia O'Keeffe, I think they truly loved having the opportunity to make viewers take a second look at the many beautiful things we take for granted that nature provides.