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Lesson Plans » Loon Lake Lesson Plan

Loon Lake Lesson Plan

Students will create a loon using a paint resist technique to be placed on a watercolor rendition of a lake surface.

Process

  1. Discuss loons and other birds that may be found around water.
    • Look at pictures of loons and discuss their characteristics.  Discuss the different shapes involved in drawing a loon.
  2. Have the students begin drawing their loon on white scrap paper with a white crayon, press down hard (the loon may be sketched lightly with a pencil)
    • Remind students that any lines drawn in the white crayon will stay white. 
    • The outline of the bird, they eye, spots or markings and any definition of the beak should all be drawn in white.
  3. Wash the white crayon loon with black watercolor paint.
    • The white crayon will resist the black paint. 
    • Set the loon aside to dry.
  4. Paint the background.
    • The heavy white paper is going to be your background. 
    • Stress to the students to use “water” type colors (greens, blues, purples). 
    • The paint should be applied to the paper in a swirling manner to give the “water” a sense of movement. 
    • Set aside to dry.
  5. Trim your dried loon(s) from the scrap paper.
  6. Decide on the possible addition of plants, cattails, marsh grass, etc.
    • Draw and cut out any plants (construction paper or tissue paper may be used).
  7. Lay out your loons and plants on your background to ensure proper placement.
    • Placing the plants in front of the loons will give your artwork more dimensions. 
    • Once placement has been decided, glue the pieces firmly into place. 
  8. Add crayon lines to detail the movement of the water.
    • Moving water will ripple around any objects. 
  9. The final step is to sign your masterpiece. Use a fine tip black marker and sign at least 1” away from the paper edge.  Record student name, grade, teacher/class on the back in pencil.

Time Needed:

2 classes

Materials

  • 8 1/2″ x 11″ white art paper
  • white scrap paper
  • scissors
  • watercolor paints 
  • brushes and/or sponges
  • crayons
  • glue
  • fine tip black marker
  • construction or tissue paper scraps (browns & greens)
  • pictures of lake scenes
  • pictures of loons
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