One Point Perspective Paintings

The focus of this year with my home school art class is art from the 1500's-1700's. One of the things I really wanted to teach them about was perspective, but I felt like a couldn't quite find a project that would work for 2nd-5th graders that wouldn't turn into a circus! So I put it off and put it off, but then I saw Natalie's project on one point perspective at the blog, "SmArt Class," and I thought, "This just might work...."

This student has lots of lovely details in her picture!

Well, I'm happy to say, it did! The first week, I showed the students some examples of paintings with and without perspective in them. Then, I walked the students through a guided drawing exercise using Natalie's step-by-step instructions so I didn't miss anything.

The second week, the children finished their pencil drawings (most of them were still drawing windows on buildings) and added details for interest. Then they used Sharpies to ink their drawings. When done, they used erasers to remove their guide lines. I gave a demo on using watercolors properly. Rules I shared were:

• proper brush technique
• no splashing the water
• dabbing brushes dry on paper towels
• no scrubbing the brush
• how to create areas of color by using gradual washes of color, etc...

Most of the students were able to start their painting on week two.

The third week, students continued to add color to their pictures with watercolors. Everyone finished up by the end of this class.

The students were very proud of their pieces--they kept saying things such as, "It really looks like you can go down the road!" I was very happy I tried this project with my students!

Love the bridge and the car in this one!

Even the youngest students in my classes really got into this project!