5th grade art – Art with Mrs Filmore

Mixed Media Watercolor Self-Portraits – 5th Grade

May 30, 2026 No Comments

***UPDATE: I just added my “Summertime Art Lessons” page under the main menu! I’ll be adding a dedicated “Fall Art Lessons” and “Winter Art Lessons” page soon as well! I’ll also be adding more 5th grade “Mixed Media Watercolor Self-Portraits” below and under 5th grade on Tuesday 6/9/26!

This 3 day art lesson is inspired by the artist Cecilia Paredes. Besides my “Winter Northern Lights” and “1 Point Perspective Cityscapes”, this is definitely one of my top 3 favorite art lessons to teach 5th grade! I LOVE them so much and my students are really enjoying the process and are thrilled with their work as well! Only 2 (of my 4) 5th grade classes have finished so far. I’ll be adding more once finished!

I love his expression in the one above and it has a comic book illustration quality to it, doesn’t it?!

This lesson takes 3 (40 min.) art classes to finish— although some students finished up on day 2

DAY 1

I showed students a few of my examples first and then introduced them to Cecilia Paredes’ artwork— Below are screenshots of my Google slides.

Below are my teacher examples

We reviewed what mixed media meant, then I explained that we’d be creating 2 abstract paintings using watercolors (and oil pastels if they wanted) for their background. They would later on choose only one of their paintings for their finished artwork. I then demonstrated a variety of ways they could paint. On their (2) 9×12” 80# white papers they could do any of the following:

Paint random lines, shapes and colors with watercolors

Splatter paint only

Splatter paint and then scrape the paint while still wet

Draw with oil pastels first, then splatter paint on top and then scrape

For scraping, I had kids use the side of a plastic texture rubbing plate. Students were given one sheet of 9×12” to start, and when the first sheet was complete, they put it in the drying rack and then got a 2nd sheet. I encouraged kids to experiment, and to explore 2 different methods to create their background paintings.

My students had so much fun and thought it was so cool when they saw their results from scraping their paintings!

There was definitely some horsing around in art class that day! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist)

While kids painted, I went around and took each students photo. Kids could pose any way that they wanted, but I shot from their chest up so it would be more close-up.

Later on, I edited their color photos to black and white, and then printed them out on regular 8.5” x 11” copy/printer paper at home. Then I slid their pictures in a plastic sheet protector (see pic below).

DAY 2

On day 2, I brought in all their photos inside the sheet protectors and demonstrated under the document camera how to trace over all the contour lines using a black fine point sharpie.

I showed them that if you make a mistake anywhere with sharpie on the plastic, how to erase their marks. This is such a cool trick too! All you have to do is draw with a dry erase marker right over the mistake and then use a q-tip (or tissue) to rub it off!! LOVE that hack!

Once all the contour lines were traced with black sharpie on the plastic sheet protector, they took their photo out and flipped it over to the white side, and placed it back inside with the white side facing up. This allows you to see your lines clearly and see colors more accurately when coloring.

Then students colored in their hair, eyes, lips, and clothing with colored sharpies. They could use any colors they wanted. The only parts they couldn’t color in was their skin. The dry erase marker trick works on the color sharpie as well btw.

These are the sharpies I purchased off Amazon for this lesson. Nice bright, vibrant colors and was fairly cheap too!

One thing I explained to students though was to be careful when coloring near the black sharpie lines. If you get colored sharpie right on top of the black contour lines, it dissolves them. So I just told them to be careful and to go right up to the black contour lines, but try not to go over them.

DAY 3

Students finished coloring in their drawings and once complete, they tested out their plastic sheet drawing on top of both paintings. The cool thing about this project is you can flip the image over and try it out that way too! You can also turn the abstract painting upside down and see how the self-portrait looks as well! So many possibilities! That’s why I had them paint two paintings —not only to experiment more with painting techniques—but this way they had more than one option for their background.

Once students positioned their self-portrait drawings the way they liked it on top of their selected painting, they paper clipped the painting and self-portrait together. Then later on, I trimmed the edges of the plastic sheet with scissors (to remove the sealed edges and the 3 ring binder holes) and stapled the artwork together.

Also—When kids finished, they could keep their 2nd painting and their black and white photo and some students created additional art using them. One student made a really sweet birthday card for her dad using the photo and painting!

I’ll be adding more student artwork here once my other two 5th grade classes finish!

Learning Goals:

Students can utilize the Elements of Art: Line, Shape, Color, Value and Texture to create their art and can define each element

Students learn about Cecilia Paredes and can identify her artwork

Students can define mixed media

Students can define abstract art and create an abstract painting

Students can demonstrate various watercolor painting techniques

Students can define what contour lines are and can create the contour lines for their self-portrait

If you didn’t already see, I recently created a “SELF-PORTRAIT” page listed under the main menu with a variety of self-portrait lessons for grades K-5 (and was updated on 5/31/26!)

I also added a NEW page “Every Art Lesson Since 2017” under my main menu the other day and actually edited it today (5/31/26) so that all these post links are in some kind of order! I put them all by grade level and one miscellaneous category. Now it’ll be easier for you to locate stuff I posted! YAY!

I also plan on adding “summer art lessons”, “fall art lessons” and “winter art lessons” pages soon too!

And finally, I just added an “OP Art”resource sheet in my TpT store for my 5th grade OP Art drawing lesson. My TpT store is HERE!

Thanks so much for visiting my website today!

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Mixed Media Watercolor Self-Portraits – 5th grade

April 24, 2026 No Comments

I’m so excited to start this new lesson soon with my 5th graders! I’ve been having fun creating a variety of examples! Watercolors, sharpie markers, plastic sheet protectors, 9×12” 80# white drawing paper, oil pastels ( See below)

I created a few different variations of the first one (below)

Such a fun way to create a self-portrait and I think my students are going to love it!

Here’s what I did to create the first two:

I created the background painting first, by splattering watercolors, with all different colors, all over a sheet of 80# 9×12” white drawing paper with a watercolor brush. I think splattering smaller drops of paint with more paint than water on the brush works best for this technique.

I let the paint sit for a minute on the paper to allow the pigment of the watercolor paint to adhere and saturate the paper, creating the little dots of color here and there. Then I scraped the paint. I think I’ll have students use a piece of stiff cardboard for this, but I used a couple of index cards folded in half together, and turned the index card each time I scraped a section. A cut up cereal box would work great for this. Then the painting was set aside to dry completely. In the 1st photo above, I scrape randomly and in a wavy way. 2nd photo above, I scraped going from the center outward to the edges of the paper all the way around.

Then I took a couple of photos of myself and I also used one that I already had in my phone (the silly wide-eyed expression one looking at the drink) and printed them out as black and white on 8.5” x 11” white copy paper.

Then I slipped the black and white photo inside an 8.5” x 11” clear plastic sheet protector and traced all the contour lines of my face, hair and clothes using a fine point black permanent sharpie on the plastic. Once complete, I pulled the black and white photo out and put a white paper underneath the plastic sheet protector (so I could see my contour lines easily) and colored in my hair, eyes, lips and clothes with colored permanent sharpie markers. I love the texture that the sharpie creates when coloring on plastic! Zoom in on the photos above to see, if you’ve never tried this technique before. It’s so cool!

Then I just laid my colored plastic sheet on top of my painting. You can flip the plastic over to the other side and try it that way as well! There’s so many possibilities to the layout and the way the colors work together with this!

FYI— I did trim the sides and bottom of the plastic sheet protector with scissors after coloring in, in order to get rid of the three ring binder holes that it comes with, and to cut the other side to not make it a sealed edge.
Then once you SEPERATE the plastic just glue the back of your colored plastic sheet with a clear glue stick all over and glue onto your painting!

****More on what brand of sheet protectors and colored sharpies I used below****

For the 3rd one , I first drew random lines with pink and orange oil pastels on 80# 9 x 12” white drawing paper. Then I sprayed water (a fine mist) all over my paper lightly. Then I used blue watercolor paint to splatter randomly over the dampened paper. Then I scraped my paper using the same method with index cards as above and let dry. Then used the same methods with tracing contour lines and coloring with colored sharpies as above.

For images #4, #5 and #6 I created a plastic wrap resist technique. I painted pink/red circles one at a time randomly all over the 80# paper with watercolors, using a lot of paint, then immediately laid down a small cut square of plastic wrap on top of the circle. (You just need to make sure you put a lot of watercolor on your brush and make sure the paint is still wet before putting on the plastic wrap.Also make sure the cut plastic wrap/saran wrap is slightly larger than the circle.)
Then I pulled up the center of each plastic wrap square slightly, and twisted it in one direction tightly, to create the flower petal appearance. I did this for all the circles and then used only a tiny bit of red paint on my brush -but mainly water —and painted all around the plastic wrap flowers, filling in the negative space. Then left it to sit and dry for at least 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, or more, I peeled off the plastic wrap and let the painting dry for an additional 30 minutes before laying the plastic self-portrait on top to take a photo.

For the final picture (pic #7) I did the same technique as above with plastic wrap on watercolors, except I used a variety of colors. I painted one circle at a time and left a bit of white paper in the center, then painted a different color in each center, then applied the cut Saran Wrap on top and twisted. Then I pressed at the circles edges all the way around to let the paint bleed outside my painted circle a little, to create a slightly wavy edge. See pics below

This watercolor plastic wrap resist technique would be fun to use for creating a field of flowers with kids, or a vase of flowers!

I also did a few other paintings ( below) with plastic wrap and wet-on-wet technique with watercolors, but they didn’t really come out as I envisioned them to be, so didn’t use them.

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If any students are reading this, just want to point out that we all go through frustrations, set backs, disappointments, and challenges in art making—-even art teachers!! I know I was annoyed/ frustrated at times when I was creating these examples —but after a bunch of experimenting and perseverance—-I did end up excited and happy with some of my playful results!! So just remember, just keep trying and have fun and you never know what you might discover along the way!
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These are the colored sharpies I purchased on Amazon —I love them and they are very colorful and bright! Pack of 48 (for only 9.90!)

These are the plastic sheet protectors I purchased off Amazon below. Nice thickness, and crystal clear. 25 per pack for a little over $4

You can see in the pic below how clear these are

I also ordered the ones below by a different company—BUT don’t buy these—they have a slight texture to them and aren’t crystal clear as you can see in the photos below.
Too bad I bought 300 of them?!?! But I guess I’ll find a use for them for holding cooking recipes —or I could use them to make my sub plan binder look a little more organized haha

(if you zoom in you can see it has a rough texture to it )

I like using Crayola “Portfolio” brand oil pastels as you can see below- – but I know there’s a bunch of other brands that are just as good / if not better.

5th graders will be starting these once they finish up their “Splattered Paintbrushes” art lesson!

This mixed media watercolor self-portrait lesson is inspired by the contemporary Artist Cecilia Paredes (she is an amazing painter – check out her artwork if you haven’t seen her self-portraits!!!!) I’m excited to introduce my students to her work! Below is a link to view some of her incredible work!

https://echofinearts.com/artists/cecilia-paredes/?srsltid=AfmBOorcI7oDKTetuJTzHXX2Ujij9QrHTkp_gOqPU-wLEmjDoGUF6JPv

I’ll update this post (as well as my “5th Grade Art Lessons” page ) with photos of students working on their art as well as students finished artwork, and the learning goals for the lesson once complete!

Check out some of my recent posts below! (Clicking on the link will bring you right to that post! )

Mixed Media Cake inspired by Wayne Thiebaud

One point Perspective Cityscapes – 5th Grade

Blackout poetry – 5th Grade

Draw your own Inventions – 1st Grade

Winter Northern Lights! 5th grade Art Lesson

I also added a page “springtime art lessons” recently that have 39 springtime art lessons all in one place, with pics and links to my original posts with detailed steps. That can be found under the main menu or you can click Here!

Thanks so much for visiting my website today!

P.S BE ON THE LOOK OUT FOR A SALE IN MY TpT STORE SOMETIME THIS WEEKEND!!! : D

UPDATE! I’ve just added a 20% off entire store sale starting today 4/25 to 4/28!

Link to my TpT store is HERE

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Winter Northern Lights! 5th Grade Art Lesson

February 15, 2026 2 Comments

WINTER NORTHERN LIGHTS – kids artwork included!

( My teacher example above )

Students artwork below!

This is a NEW art lesson that I created on 12/17/25. I’m SO excited on how these turned out! This is definitely a keeper in my curriculum and kids really loved creating them!! Such a fun process and I’m very proud of my students work (as they are too!)

The only materials needed are 12 x18” black paper ( I like to use Sax brand “Black Colored Art Paper” because of how saturated the color it is, and doesn’t have spotting or inconsistencies within the paper), 6” x 18” black paper, 12 x18” white paper, colored chalk pastels, white chalk pastel, scissors, a glue stick, a toothbrush, a plate for the paint, and white tempera paint.

I knew I wanted to create a fun landscape using chalk pastels for a winter art lesson and kept playing around with ideas in my head for a few days, then started experimenting at school. I really love how the northern lights came out and how the snowy trees pop against the black and all that vibrant color!

This lesson takes (4) 40 minute art classes to complete.
This winter lesson can be created throughout ANY of the winter months! December-January-February….March even! (If you live in New England, March is like the loooongest cold month (besides January of course haha!)

Day 1: Create the Northern Lights

On a sheet of 12×18” white drawing paper, draw 5 random wavy lines across the paper with pencil to create a template for the northern lights. Make sure no lines are overlapping.

Then cut along that first top line and toss that first top section away in the recycling.

Then place the remaining paper (template) on top of the 12×18” black paper, lining up both papers. Then using various colored chalk pastels, draw right on the edge of the white paper -AND- on the black paper, going back and forth to create a thick line and to create a lot of chalk dust. Use a variety of colors and switch colors as you move along the edge of the white paper. Overlap colors where they meet as well. Then once the entire edge is colored, use your finger to smudge upwards from the white paper onto the black paper. (I did try to use a different finger as colors changed here and there, but even if I didn’t and they blended a little, it was completely fine. I guess that really just depends on what effect you’re going for color-wise and what colors you choose.)

Blow on your paper to get rid of any residual chalk dust. Then cut along the second line, toss the top section out, line the two papers up again and apply the chalk along the papers edge in the same way as mentioned above, then smudge upwards. Repeat these steps until it fills the black paper (see photos BELOW). Then use your finger to smudge the bottoms of each line of color created, to soften the lines and blur them out a little bit.

***TIP***To get rid of any smudges / finger prints afterwards, wipe your fingers on a damp paper towel with water (or use a baby wipe) lightly rub your fingers together for a second or two to get rid of excess moisture, then use your slightly dampened (juuuust barely!) finger to wipe away any smudges you don’t want—— that trick really works great!

DAY 2: Add the stars/snow

On day 2, finish creating the northern lights with colored chalk if needed. (Not a lot, but some of my students needed to finish). Then dip a toothbrush into white tempera paint on a plate, (I use Crayola Tempera Premier), not too much! And rub your finger along the toothbrush bristles to help spread it evenly. Then flick all over the black paper with northern lights creating stars in the night sky (– or snow falling, depending on how you see it). Once complete, set aside artwork in the drying rack to dry.

DAY 3: Create the trees

On day 3, students each receive a sheet of black paper cut to 6” x 18”. Using white chalk pastel (no pencil sketching first) create trees by drawing an upside down “v” first for the top of the tree along the left side of your paper (forming each tree LEFT to RIGHT as you draw them).

Then draw lines going up and down only (overlapping the lines as you draw and leaving a jagged edge along the bottom).

Leave some black paper showing in between the next series of tree branches.

Then move onto your next tree. Create trees that are close together (they can actually overlap too) with varying heights all across the paper.

Also blow on the paper after each section of branches are complete to get rid of any residual chalk dust.

DAY 4: Cut out trees and glue on

Finish creating trees if needed. Once complete, cut out the trees as one piece (keeping them all attached near the bottom) but leave a small bit of black paper showing all around each tree as you cut. About a 1/2” all around trees.

Then flip over carefully and glue the back all over with a glue stick (making sure to cover the entire backside, especially the edges).

Then place along the bottom of the black northern lights paper lining the edges up before placing down. Make sure the paper is facing the right way first—-so that the northern lights are trailing UP not down. Press along the very bottom only—where there aren’t any trees—to attach, and then use another CLEAN sheet of 12×18” white paper to then lay on top of the whole thing (sort of roll it on over the trees) and press where the trees are to help reduce any smudging of the trees while gluing into place.

***TIP***To get rid of any smudges / finger prints afterwards, wipe your fingers on a damp paper towel with water (or use a baby wipe) lightly rub your fingers together for a second or two to get rid of excess moisture, then use your slightly dampened (juuuust barely!) finger to wipe away any smudges you don’t want—— again, that trick really works great!

LEARNING GOALS:

Students can create a sense of space within their art, when creating the size and placement of their trees

Students can see how art and other disciplines, like science, can be interdisciplinary and helps generate new ideas and supports creative thinking

Students can demonstrate an understanding on how to blend colors, create texture, and show value changes using chalk pastels

https://youtu.be/w7SMAeyaTM0?feature=shared

Thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed reading this post and try it out with your class at school or at home with your own kids!
Please tag me and refer back to this website if you are sharing your creations on any social media, thank you!

I’ll be posting a NEW art lesson for 5th grade very soon!
If you haven’t already— please consider subscribing to this site below! Thank you ❤️

And to all you teachers out there reading this, I hope you have a great rest of your February break!!! Enjoy!

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New YouTube Video “Winter Northern Lights”

January 2, 2026 4 Comments

I just finished making a new YouTube tutorial on this lesson I created! I can’t wait to start teaching this lesson to my 5th graders soon after winter break!
Thank you to all of you for your support and interest (in a previous post I added a poll and asked if anyone would like to see a video on this, and got a tremendous amount of Yes’s!) I appreciate you all so much! I hope you enjoy this video and will use it in your classrooms or at home with your children

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your winter break and have a smooth transition back to teaching (I can’t believe break is almost over?!?!)

❤️