mixed media watercolors – 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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4th grade “Enlarged Flower Drawings” and 5th grade “Splattered Paintbrushes”!

May 10, 2026 No Comments

*****UPDATE: NEW BLOG POST WILL BE ADDED THIS WEEKEND 5/16-5/17 (most likely Sunday) AS WELL AS A NEW TpT RESOURCE—- PLEASE CHECK BACK THEN! SUBSCRIBE BELOW (it’s free!) TO GET EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS 🙂

I know that these lessons have been listed under my 4th and 5th grade pages for awhile now- but I haven’t posted either of them as a NEW blog post since 2018 and 2022! AND I wanted to share all the beautiful new artwork my students created!

***I also don’t teach either of these lessons -year after year- mainly because I sometimes want to try out a new lesson during the time frame when I’d typically teach it.

ALL ARTWORK BELOW IS BY MY STUDENTS. No teacher examples.

ENLARGED FLOWER DRAWINGS inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe

I absolutely LOVE the texture in the one below!

Aren’t these so beautiful and vibrant!! SO proud of my students!! Amazing work everyone!

Students learned about the artist Georgia O’Keeffe, and viewed examples of her flower paintings. We talked about the scale (size) of her work and that her flower paintings were so large because she thought flowers were incredibly beautiful and wanted people to notice them! She loved to create close-up paintings of flowers. I told my 4th graders that looking at her flower paintings is like looking at a flower with a magnifying glass.

We also reviewed what abstract artwork is (artwork that focuses on mainly lines, shapes and colors), which is how Georgia O’Keeffe depicted a lot of her flowers in her work. She focused on just small sections of a flower –instead of the entire flower in a lot of her work, therefore abstracting the image. (Notably, not all of her flower paintings are abstract, but many are).

DAY 1:

I showed students multiple examples of her flower paintings through a Google slideshow presentation and discussed her work and background.

Students learned some fun facts about Georgia too!

Did you know that In her 70s and 80s, she took several rafting trips down the Colorado River?

In 1959, at the age of 71, she spent three months flying around the world, visiting countries like Japan, India, and Italy. This trip inspired her series of “Sky Above Clouds” paintings!

She made over 200 flower paintings during her lifetime.

And in 1928, six of her calla lily paintings sold for $25,000, which was the largest amount ever paid at the time for a group of paintings by a living American artist.

I then showed students some photos of 4th grade students finished flower drawings from previous years, as well as my own examples.

After — I demonstrated under the doc camera how to focus in on one area of a flower by blocking out the rest, using a view finder (I made these ahead of time by cutting out black square pieces of construction paper with a small (about 2×2″ square) cut out in the middle.)

Students could choose a flower image from 6 different flower prints that I brought.

Students were instructed to select an area of their flower picture with their viewfinder, so its petals touched or ran off at least 3 sides of their viewfinder.

Students then practiced drawing and enlarging small sections of their chosen flowers on 1 sheet of 9×12” paper. They did this 3 times, each flower drawing within a different square on their paper.

They had a choice of choosing 3 different flower images OR drawing from 1 flower image but focusing in on different areas of the flower each time, or a combination of the above.

DAYS 2-3:

Students then selected 1 photo of a flower for their final drawing. They then taped their viewfinder down over their chosen flower photo so it wouldn’t move.

They observed their flower closely, and enlarged the selected viewable section of their flower on 11×11” 80# white drawing paper, making sure that their flower petals ran off or touched at least 3 of the 4 sides of their paper, while considering the composition.

Once drawn, students colored in using oil pastels. Students had a choice of coloring in their flower any colors they wanted!!

In previous years, I had students color in their flowers trying to best match their flowers colors in the photo. This time —the only rule with color I had was, was to switch to a different color when there was a transition of color in their flower photo. Also, If their was a bit of background showing in their composition, (some students selected areas of their flower that only showed the flower– without any background) they needed to color it in with any one chosen color for contrast.

I also talked about cleaning any oil pastels with a paper towel if needed. Sometimes other colors get on the oil pastels from repeated use— when overlapping colors and blending especially—and I showed them how to fold the paper towel in half twice (to make it stronger) and then after placing the oil pastel tip inside the center to twist it as you press on the tip with your other hand – to clean off any other colors. My students LOOVED that cleaning tip!

I had 3 large boxes with various colors total that I would bring on my cart for each class. Kids could go up to the boxes at the front of the classroom to select whatever colors they wanted.

DAY 4:

Final day for coloring in, and then for a final step, students created a bit of depth within their flower by adding shadows around the edges of their flowers petals with a black oil pastel, then smudging in the direction it was drawn with their finger. This creates a soft blurry line – creating a shadow effect.

Adding black for shading with oil pastels can be a pretty tricky step, as it can easily smudge into others areas where you might not want it to, but I think students did a wonderful job adding that element to their artwork!!

I absolutely LOVE these flowers!!

Learning Goals:

Students can use a viewfinder to narrow their field of vision

Students learn about the life and artwork of painter Georgia O’Keeffe and can identify her work

Students can define and identify abstract artwork

Students can use their observational drawing skills to draw an enlarged flower

Students can blend colors together using their finger

Students can create depth within artwork by drawing overlapping petals and adding shading

SPLATTERED PAINTBRUSHES -5th Grade

This lesson idea is from art teacher Lauralee Chambers —@2art.chambers on Instagram.

This is always such a fun lesson to teach my 5th graders! It takes about (3) 40 minute art classes to complete.

DAY 1

We discussed how we would be utilizing the Elements of Art; Line, Shape, Color, Texture, and Value to create these paintings.

After showing students various finished artwork by my previous students, and my own teacher examples, I gave students a double-sided sheet of various paintbrush drawings that I drew – to observe and use as a reference while drawing their paintbrushes.

***BTW- I have a link to my TpT page below that has the paintbrush sheets (PDF) for a free download!

Students then drew at least 6 large paintbrushes (they could draw up to 7) on 12×18” 80# paper with pencil.

I asked them to enlarge the paintbrushes, no tracing, and in their drawings I asked that the following be included: at least 2 of the brushes had to overlap one another, at least 2 be drawn diagonally, and at least 1 drawn so the bristles pointed downward. Students could add also their own brush details within the handles.

Once all drawn in pencil, students traced over all their pencil lines with an ultra fine point black sharpie.

I showed students how to use the straight edge of their paintbrushes handout paper to create the paintbrush bristles. We did this by putting the edge of the handout paper up against the end of their paintbrush handle (in the drawing where the bristles would come out), to protect the rest of their paint brush when going over the lines with sharpie.

DAY 2

Students finished drawing and sharpieing over all their lines if needed, then used a black oil pastel to draw a thick line along only one side of each brush. Only on all the brushes left sides -OR- only on all the brushes right sides. I explained to students we were trying to create the illusion that there was only one light source and the light projected onto their brushes was creating a shadow.

Then using one finger gently smudge the oil pastel going in the same direction it was drawn in, to blur the line and to create a soft shadow.

DAY 3

On the final day students used watercolors to create the splatter effect.

We used tempera paint brushes for this because of the stiffness of the brushes bristles. It allows the paint to be flicked better, and with more precision, as opposed to using watercolor brushes, which has a softer/flimsier bristle.

I showed them how to use a tempera brush to apply the paint only halfway up each brush, leaving a jagged edge. Then we dipped the same brush back into the same color paint, and pulled back the bristles to flick the paint close to their papers for splatter coming from each brush.

I absolutely LOVE how they all came out and students had a lot of fun creating them —-albeit a bit messy (especially being on a cart for 3 out of my 4 classes!!)

***Visit my TpT store to get your FREE COPY of the paint brushes handouts I’ve drawn below! ***

filmore (link to my TpT store)

LEARNING GOALS:

Students can use observational drawing skills to create three dimensional looking paintbrushes
Students can identify and define the elements of Art LiNE, SHAPE, COLOR, VALUE + TEXTURE
Students can show overlapping and can create an interesting composition
Students can create splatter with watercolors using various painting techniques

Thanks so much for visiting my site today! Please enter your email address below to subscribe for FREE!! You will receive an email notification each time that I post! (Usually once a week)

Please also check out some of my previous posts below! 3 of them include YouTube tutorials as well!

Mixed Media Cake inspired by Wayne Thiebaud

Mixed Media Watercolor Self-Portraits – 5th Grade

One point Perspective Cityscapes – 5th Grade

NEW YouTube Art Tutorial! “April Showers Brings May Flowers” -2nd Grade

Winter Northern Lights! 5th grade Art Lesson

Blackout poetry – 5th Grade

Draw your own Inventions – 1st Grade

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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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