Tints and Shades of Winter

In the art lesson below, the night got dark really fast!  Oops, we added a little too much black!  Oh well, sometimes I let kids goof.  I have found that the kids seem to learn better when they see what their mistakes can cause.  Don't we all?

Directions:

I gave the kids blue, white, and black paint.

I told them that I wanted white to gradually turn to light blue, medium blue, dark blue, and then eventually to black.

Once they got the layers of tints/shades of blue, they painted a winter scene.

Then, they splattered some white to represent the snow. 

Some of the paintings look like a snowstorm rather than a serene winter night.

Oh well.  Things sometimes turnout a little different than you plan.  Art teachers are very aware of the many surprises in store when doing art with kids.

Everybody lives and learns.

Perfect song for this post...The Bangles singing "Hazy Shades of Winter" with scenes from the movie, Less Than Zero with Robert Downey, Jr. and Andrew McCarthy (1987).

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