Abstract Watercolor Still Life

This is my project for my afterschool watercolor class tomorrow. My main goal is to have the mostly kinders and 1st graders practice painting simple shapes (no extra patterns allowed!) and to leave white space around the painting. I love the painterly look it creates, and think this will be a nice change from painting to the edge, which we almost always do.

1. I’m first cutting out four template shapes from cardboard: a coffee cup, bowl, wine glass and plate. The students will be asked to overlap these shapes on their watercolor paper, trace them in pencil, and then in crayon. The more they press down with the crayon, the better the divider edge they make to keep the paint from running together.
2. Using watercolor trays, they will paint in all the different shapes different colors. I’m going to remind them many, many times “do not paint to the edge, leave some white space”.