Focal Point Fish

Composition is hard. How do you know when a picture "looks" right? That's what I asked my fourth graders today. We talked about what grabbed our attention and how our eyes travelled around the page. I used student art to demonstrate compositions that were effective. Creating a balanced picture was our goal. Fish were our subject and a special concoction of magic paint was our medium.

Here's what we did:

• Draw a tropical fish (I used my handouts from my Watercolor PDF) using a waterproof marker (we used Sharpies). I told the kids to draw as many fish as they would like but to arrange the fish to create a balanced picture. Of course, some kids couldn't be persuaded to draw more than one fish, but that was fine by me.
• Using a blend of Mod-Podge, glitter watercolor paint and a splash of concentrated watercolor paint, the kids chose one color to paint their background.
• After the background, the kids painted their fish.

This lesson took 2-45 minute sessions. Only a few didn't finish.

Fourth grade results!