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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