Batik with paint and ink

BATIK~a method of decorating cloth by covering part of it with wax and then dyeing the cloth, is easily simplified in the art classroom with crayons and watercolor. In this project, we used chalk, acrylic paint, and india ink.
5th graders studied the art of batik and created animal designs in chalk on paper. Then, students painted their animals and added ink to their paintings, washing away the ink after only a few minutes to reveal their animal designs. We touched up areas where color was lost with oil pastels to create high-contrast designs.

Cityscape Collages

Third and Fourth grade students enjoyed looking at different photos of Tegucigalpa and comparing them to other cityscapes from around the world. We began our cityscapes by working in layers, from the top to the bottom of the paper. Students used torn paper to add sky and the distant hills that surround our city. We made sure that each of us was presenting our city and home in a "bird's eye view," so that we each had a clear horizon line in our work. We added buildings to the middle ground that we see in our community, and we added our home in the foreground.

Fall Trees

This lesson presents students with a challenge to create balance between positive and negative space in their composition. First, we cut up pieces of cardboard we had lying around. Then, students added torn strips of masking tape to create a tree-like design on their cardboard. We then sponge-painted fall colors on top of our tape and cardboard. The following class, we ripped off the tape to reveal a tree form and added white and black charcoal for highlights and shadows on our trees. Students were pleased to see how "realistic" their trees turned out.