Here are some spring art lesson ideas to add some color to your lessons and create a colorful spring display for your school. These ideas are all inspired by artists you can find in art history books, as well as the artists that are currently making history. Elementary-geared lessons are first, with a couple ideas for older students at the end.
Whimsical Songbird Inspired by Lora Zombie
Lora Zombie was born in a small town in Russia in 1990. She wanted to become an artist at a very early age. She is a self-taught artist who likes to paint a variety of things from animals to happy things to outer space, whatever comes to mind. I have students use sheet music, bright colors and birds just like Lora Zombie. They draw simple birds step by step following my Whimsical Songbird YouTube video tutorial. Then they add patterns to the birds with colorful markers. Lastly, my students use watercolor to add a light wash of color on a sheet music background.
Pointillist Tulips Inspired by Georges Seurat
Georges Seurat was born in 1859 in France. He is best known for being a Pointillist painter. Most information known about him comes from the diary of artist and friend, Paul Signac. My students use a pencil eraser to create dotted painted paper, much like Seurat. Once the paper is dry, they cut tulips, stems and leaves from the painted paper. Lastly, they glue the pieces together to make a bunch of tulips and paste them onto a sheet of construction paper.
Sheep Inspired by Grant Wood
Grant Wood was born in rural Iowa in 1891. He was an active painter from an extremely young age and is best known for his paintings. He also worked in ink, charcoal, metal, ceramics and wood. His work is known as the American movement of Regionalism, which was found in the Midwest, and included paintings of rural America. My students take inspiration from Grant Wood and paint rolling hills with light, medium and dark green paint on light blue construction paper. Once the paint is dry, they use Sharpie to add fences dividing the hills as well as the heads and legs of the sheep. Then they add fluffy white clouds to the sky and dots of white paint to the legs to create fluffy sheep. The sheep in the foreground are created with cotton balls for some added fun and texture.
3D Flowers Inspired by Janet Fish
Janet Fish was born in 1938 and raised in Bermuda with her artistic parents. She is a contemporary American Realist artist who got her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1963 and became one of the first women to earn a Master of Fine Arts from Yale’s School of Art and Architecture. She currently lives in Vermont and New York. My third grade artists create a collage of 3D flowers in a vase, similar to Fish’s Waimea painting. They create a weaving for a colorful table and add a 3D paper vase over the weaving. My students use my 3D Paper Flowers YouTube video tutorial to learn 3 different ways to make paper flowers. The paper flowers are glued inside the vase and crayons are used to add a patterned wall behind the vase of flowers.
Spring Flowers Inspired by Robin Mead
Robin Mead started art school on Long Island, New York in 2003, while still working as a social worker. She expresses joy by creating colorful depictions of nature, preferably the ocean, landscapes, flowers and birds. She currently lives in Georgia, where she decided to make her dream of being a full-time artist a reality. Taking inspiration from Robin Mead’s colorful flowers, my students draw 3-4 large overlapping flowers on watercolor paper. They use watercolor to fill in the petals, stems and background with bright colors. Once the paper is dry, students use a variety of Sharpies to add line variety to their drawings. Lastly, using an ultra fine Sharpie, students add more patterns throughout the painting similar to the work of Robin Mead. This is one of my favorite spring art lesson ideas!
Watercolor Doodles Inspired by Vexx
Vexx was born and raised near Brussels, Belgium. He is a self-proclaimed doodler named Vince Okerman, but Vexx is his YouTube name. A skilled illustrator, he has earned more than 3 million YouTube subscribers creating timelapses, art challenges, and drawing tutorials. My students love watching Vexx doodle in his YouTube videos. My students give doodling a try too, except with the theme of spring. I encourage my students to fill the watercolor paper with as many doodles as possible. They create a very simple color wheel over the doodles suing watercolors and placing the colors in color order. Once the paper is dry, students add line variety or enhance any line art that has been covered with the watercolor.
Middle School Spring Art Lesson Ideas
Britto Inspired Pop Art
Romero Britto was born in Brazil, but he currently lives in Miami, Florida. He was from humble beginnings, and has now made quite a name for himself in the art world. The high sales of his positive and optimistic paintings have allowed him to give back to over 250 charitable organizations. The colors Romero Britto uses always scream spring and summer to me. Spring is a great time to make a Britto inspired painting. I instruct students to use any object from pop culture and draw it with correct proportions. Then, students use watercolors and markers to add abstract color and patterns to the painting. Lastly, students add line variety and Britto’s signature bold lines with a chisel tip Sharpie marker. Full Britto Pop Art Lesson Plan available here.
Papel Amate
Amate bark painting is a Mexican folk art developed in the state of Puebla. The process involves both making the bark paper and the painting which typically depicts brightly colored scenes of daily life, history or nature. The colors and natural elements often found in Papel Amate art make another great spring art lesson idea. Birds and flowers are a common subject matter in these colorful Mexican bark paintings. Students crumple Kraft paper several times to soften the paper and create the texture of bark. Next they fill the paper with simple drawings of birds, flowers and other natural elements. My students use bright colors to paint the shapes, leaving the brown paper in the negative space. They finish by using Sharpie marker to create the line art. Full Papel Amate Art Lesson Plan available here.
Happy Spring! Trista
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