Chinese Scroll Paintings

During the second semester of the school year, I have the great pleasure of teaching an art enrichment course.  This class consists of hand-selected students from 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades.  Students are chosen to participate in the class based on positive behavior and artistic skill.  The class is a real joy to teach, because with smaller nubmers and smaller classroom management issues, we can really have fun making art.  I also get to interact one-on-one with the students a lot, which is amazing!

For our first project, we learned about Chinese scroll paintings.  Students started by drawing a vertical composition (most popular designs included floral motifs such as a cherry blossom tree, landscape designs including mountains and rivers, and bamboo plants sweeping across the page in intense diagonals).  After students drew their pictures, they filled them in with watercolors (using wet and dry brush techniques).  Next, they picked Chinese characters symbolizing words that they thought suited their picture and drew them in the upper corner.  Each student "signed" their piece using a unique red stamp seal they created on their own by carving into styrofoam with a pencil.  Finally, they added a black bar on top and bottom to complete the scroll!  Aren't they beautiful?