Under the Sea Watercolor

UNDER THE SEA WATERCOLOR

After I have taught my students a variety of watercolor techniques I let them finish with this assignment.  I guess that I have a little bit of my Southern California beach loving influence in this, but it doesn't seem to dampen their spirits about this assignment.

1.  Have the students draw very lightly their image of their chosen sea creature.

2.  Use a white crayon and have the students press as hard as they can on every line that
     they drew.  It needs to be very thick
     to resist the watercolor paint.

7th Grade Art Work

3.  Use softened watercolors.  I use Prang Professional paints, not the washable ones (they do not

     have true colors, but they professional ones are true colors and are easy to make other colors
     with)

4.  Paint the background wet with water first.  Avoid getting the image wet. 

5.  Add the colors and let the water do most of the work.  If it helps have the students push the paint 
     through.  Do not over mix the colors.

6.  When it is wet, salt the wet painting.  Not too much salt.

7.  Let dry overnight.

8.  Rub off the salt.

9.  Using the wet on wet isolation watercolor technique paint the sea creature.  The wet on wet
     isolation is where you paint an isolated area wet with water first and then add wet paint in that
     area.  Add two to three colors for the best effect.  Let dry.  Do not paint next to anything that is
     damp or wet.