2nd Grade Surreal Trees

This project took 4 days. For the first period of the lesson I used 12 x 18" watercolor paper and liquid watercolors.

 Students chose 3 colors and created a wash any which way they wanted on their paper.  On the second day I watered down black tempera with water (1:1 ratio) and after dripping the watery paint on the paper, the kids blew it around with a straw.  The result were wiry. weird, and wacky tree branches. One side note, I also tried to use black liquid watercolors with a tiny bit of water and they spread nicely when blown, but came out a much lighter black.  The tempera with the water came out much more vivid. On the third day students drew hills in the background using crayons.  The last day of the lesson students collaged images (no bigger than the palm of their hand) onto their artwork to help make the work even more surreal. . 

Students viewed a different Dali artwork each period of the lesson and learned the idea that surrealism is all about transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary.