Hundertwasser Watercolour Flowers

By Eve (Year 1)

Lesson Background:
We had a bit of an "art break" last term, as my class were involved in some new and exciting activities (swimming and gymnastics lessons) which took up all our free time outside of core units of work.  This term however, we have some devoted time to an art unit on watercolour painting.  My lovely Year 1/2 class have been studying the skills and techniques of watercolour painting and have been practising using their knowledge to create their own artworks.  We have found watercolour painting (from the 'real' tubes!) a big challenge, but gradually we have become more able to control the brushes, wait for necessary drying times and use the right amount of water.  This lesson was based on the Hundertwasser lesson we did back in Term 1 but involved watercolour paints (as opposed to acrylic) and focussed on colour mixing and using the different techniques we have been learning about in our watercolours unit.

Lesson Materials:
-  2 sheets A3 watercolour paper per child (unfortunately ours hadn't arrived yet, so we  had to use normal art paper---  nowhere near as effective!)
-  Tubes of watercolour paint (a small blob of each colour per pair on a palette)
-  Brushes- thin, medium and thick per child
-  Water (a clean and dirty water jar per couple)
-  A serviette or tissue per child

Lesson Steps:

PHASE 1:  THE FLOWERS
Before starting, we learnt about the colour wheel, what watercolour paints are, how to mix colours and experimented with mixing watercolour paints to make different colours.
1.  On an A4 sheet of watercolour paper, lightly draw or trace 8 circles of different sizes.
2.  Paint one of the circles using a primary colour (yellow, red or blue)
3.  While it is still wet, paint a smaller circle inside it using a different primary colour
4.  Then paint an even smaller circle inside that using the final primary colour.
 

My sample colour mixing flowers

PHASE 2:  THE BACKGROUND
Before starting we learnt about different watercolour washes (solid, graded, variegated, etc) and the "lifting out" technique  and practised painting them.
 1.  Draw in a line for the sky and grass.
2.  Draw in a Hundertwasser-inspired tree or 2. 
3.  Use a graded wash with blue paint for the sky.  It won’t matter if you paint light blue over the top of the tree foliage, because blue is a part of green anyway.  Let it dry a little.  Then use a tissue to “lift out” some paint to make clouds.
4.  Do a thin wash of water over the grass area, going around the tree trunk/s.  Let it dry a little so there is only a light sheen and it is not dripping.
5.  Paint a solid/flat wash of green along the grass.  This time, don’t paint over the tree trunk, as the green may not be part of the colour you end up choosing for the tree trunk.  Let it dry.
6.  Choose a bright crazy colour for the tree trunk/s, like purple, red or yellow.  Carefully paint the tree trunk wet on dry.
7.  Paint the tree foliage by painting the
whole circle with light green paint.  Then paint
a smaller darker green circle inside that.
8.  Use a tissue to “lift out” a circle in the middle
of the tree foliage.
9.  You can add more rings of green
if you wish to.   



My sample background and trees

PHASE 3:  ADDING FINE DETAIL

Before starting we learnt about fine detail brush techniques such as dry brush, wrist flicks, sumi-e grip, etc and experimented with painting them.

1.1.  Cut out your Hundertwasser flowers and arrange (but don’t stick!) them on your artwork.
2.2.  Stick one flower down at a time, painting in a stem with a thin brush and occasionally adding a leaf.
3.3.  Then stick down the next flower and repeat the process. 4.You could have some of the flowers overlapping.
5.4.  Then, dry your brush, splay the bristles out between your fingers and dip them into a small amount of light or dark green paint.  Flick it gently upwards on the grass area to make little tufts of grass.

 

My final sample artwork including the fine brush detail

Year 1&2 Student Artworks: