Middle School Study of Paul Klee Letter-Painting

Now presenting: a few photos of my 7th-8th grade students' paintings based on Paul Klee's painting Once Emerged from the Grey of Night. This was a shorter project squeezed into a very busy time of year, but I was more or less pleased with the results and the students became very engaged in finding the right words and colors to choose for their paintings.

I am excited to try this project again next year with a few changes; specifically, using the project to explore different properties of color. Painting the negative spaces within and between the letters presents an opportunity to discuss hue, value and intensity within an artwork. I also wish I had a higher-quality and poundage of watercolor paper available at the time, but in a pinch we settled for less-than-ideal paper.