One of my favorite things to do anywhere I go is watch the sunset. From my experience, the mountains out west or sunsets over the ocean are the most beautiful. The reflections in the sky and on land make such beautiful colors.
These experiences inspired me to develop a lesson for my second-graders using stencils, oil pastels and watercolors. The project took two 40-minute class periods. The results were fantastic for every student, regardless
I began my lesson by discussing the horizon line, where the sky meets the ground. We discussed the fact that when the sun lowers itself toward the ground, it disappears behind the horizon line. Sometimes this lille is water and sometimes it is land. We looked at some artwork and photographs containing sunsets, noting how many colors are reflected from the rays of the sun.
We were then ready to begin creating an impressionistic landscape. I handed out pieces of 4" x 18" oaktag to each student. After drawing a varied wavy line across the oaktag from one short edge to the other, they made two stencils by cutting along the wavy lines.
The students placed one piece of the oaktag toward the bottom edge of a 12" x 18" ,piece of white drawing paper, wavy edge facing down (although some of the students liked theirs better facing up). Using oil pastels, they chose a color that they felt would be good for their scene (browns, reds, oranges or greens for the ground, and blues, purples or greens for water). They colored the wavy edge of the oaktag and proceeded to rub the color from the edge of the oaktag onto the drawing paper with a paper towel.
This was repeated two or three more times on the same line using different colors. At this point, the students lifted their stencils up off the paper. They became excited about the effect this created. They then proceeded to move their stencils up higher and higher.
The technique was repeated to make different levels of lines until they reached a little above the halfway point, leaving a space for the sky at the top of the paper. They chose whether to change colors or use the same colors for each line. The students could also move the stencil to the left or right in order to make more diversified mountains or waves. The second stencil was used in the same manner.
When they completed their land portion, they then cut a circle from the oaktag stencil that they had just used. This circle piece would serve as the sun. They placed the sun stencil on the horizon line (the top line on the drawing paper). Then the students colored the top edge of the sun stencil where it showed above the horizon line using yellows, reds and oranges for the sunbeams, and rubbed off of the oaktag circle onto the drawing paper. They then removed the circle and colored in the part of the sun that would be seen. (I reminded them that the sun does not show below the horizon line).
Next, the students worked on the sky. Using watercolors, they painted a wash, first wetting the area that was to be the sky with clear water and then adding the paint. They used blues, with touches of purples and pinks closer to the sun. Some experimented with more colors.
Their pictures were now complete and they all were thrilled with the results. Most of the pictures were good enough to be framed, and many of their parents did just that!
By Pat Johns
Patricia L. Johns teaches art at Cold Springs School in Gloucester City, N. J.
