Bats at Sunset by 3rd Grade

Students started out by drawing a cave shape in pencil cropped off the bottom corner of the page. We then created wet on wet watercolor paintings using sunset colors, starting with blues and purples on the top and reds and oranges at the horizon. I encouraged the students to add layers of plain water to blend the colors together, creating a softly glowing sky. (Actual watercolor paper is highly recommended for this assignment.) 


After the painting was dry, we added bat silhouettes and the silhouette of a spooky tree with permanent marker. I instructed the students to draw some bats larger than others to create the illusion of perspective. We also used water-based black markers and traced the outline of the cave. The final step was a water wash on this area to create a convincing rocky texture on the cave. 


These paintings look fantastic on the walls of the art hall!