Foreground, Middle ground, and Background Landscapes

Hello and Happy October!

Here is a breakdown of the first involved lesson of the year that I did with my third grade students; it's a favorite from last year that I borrowed from Art Projects for Kids.

This lesson is packed with so much visual art goodness- oil pastels, space, and perspective- your elementary students will love it.  My favorite part of the lesson (besides the easy prep of a tray of oil pastels...) is that it was accessible to every student in the room.  Each and every student felt like an artist with this project, got to make their own creative choices, and was wildly successful.  That's an A+ in my book!


This lesson took us two 45 minute classes to complete. 
 Materials: 

• 9 by 12 white sulphite paper
• Pencils and erasers
• Thick black Sharpie markers
• Oil Pastels
• Paper towels for blending

1-  First we talk about Space.  I printed out some handy visuals from Art Box (check them out, they are perfect!) and we explored Foreground, Middle ground, and Background.
Here's a small version of the examples from Art Box:

2-  Next, we talked about landscapes and followed Art Projects for Kids' steps and drew our landscapes in pencil.  We outlined after in black Sharpie marker.

3- The next day (I have 45 minute art blocks), I introduced my third graders to oil pastels, gave a demonstration on how to mix colors with a paper towel wrapped around your finger, and the kids got to work!  They had so much fun blending, choosing colors to create different seasons, and adding little details to their art.

Take a look at the finished products!

I hope you enjoyed one of my favorite, simple elementary art lessons.  If you share it with your class please share a link to your students' art in the comments below!

Thank you Art Projects for Kids and Art Box for the lesson and inspiration.

Until next time!

-Jayme

The Green Paintbrush