Oil Resist Animal Watercolor Paintings
Kindergartners started out their unit of illustrated song-books and media exploration with oil resist watercolor paintings inspired by the book, Baby Beluga by Raffi, illustrated by Ashley Wolff. We read and sang Baby Beluga along with Raffi’s recording. The students loved to sing along with me – some even danced!
After reading and singing, kindergartners learned the vocabulary “illustrator” and “illustrations.” We looked at Wolff’s beautiful arctic illustrations and pointed out all the animals we could see: beluga whales, narwhals, seals, walruses, puffins, orca whales, reindeer, and polar bears, just to name a few. These kindergartners know their animals!
Then, the students got to create their own animal illustrations. First, they drew animals in white oil pastels on white paper. This stage came easily to some students and was a bit more frustrating to others who were worried about making their drawings look just like the animal. I tried encouraging those frustrated students by pointing out the positive parts of their drawings and reassuring them that they were learning to draw and their best would turn out beautiful.
Next, we reviewed how to use use our materials responsibly. That part can be a challenge with kindergarten since they tend to love using a ton of paint and smashing their paintbrushes down on the paper. I showed them how to use a paintbrush like a “ballet dancer dancing on their toes.” Then, I demonstrated how we could mix our primary colors to get secondary colors. Students watched as I demonstrated painting rainbow colors over top of my drawings. It was like magic when all my animals started to appear. They couldn’t wait to try it themselves!
Finally, the students got to paint. They painted over their drawings in liquid watercolors to reveal their “secret” animals. Waving cats, slithery snakes, cheerful ladybugs, proud eagles and even a few beluga whales appeared in these rainbow paintings. We all loved getting to talk about the animals we like and try out a new magical art trick. Aren’t these paintings gorgeous??
