Stormy winter night

Inspired by Vincent van Gogh's painting Starry Night students make their own stormy winter night! 

What do you need? 

• drawing sheet 
• pencil
• oil pastels 
• liquid watercolor paint
• brush

What should you do? 

1. Lay the drawing sheet widthwise in front of you.
2. Draw the head of a surprised looking snowman's in the corner. 
3. Draw his scarf fluttering in the wind.
4. Draw his blown-off hat floating through the air.  
5. Color everything with oil pastels
   
6. Draw spiral shapes in the air with oil pastels. 
7. Paint the drawing with liquid watercolor but leave the edges white.  

Drawings made by students of grade 4. 

Come on, let's make a snowman!

In advance: 

By choosing an incomplete snowman, students are forced to draw big. An additional advantage is that there remains some to imagine: what would your snowman look like if he filled the complete sheet?

Students have to start coloring with white. This is to prevent other colors will mix with white and to be sure the white crayons will remain white! 

What do you need?

• blue construction paper 
• oil pastels
• pencil
• white tempera
• stencil brush

What should you do?

1. Sketch a part of a snowman. 
2. Sketch the hat and scarf and other items too. 
3. Color the drawing, starting with white oil pastel. 
4. Outline everything with black oil pastel. 
5. Make snowflakes around the snowman with white tempera paint and a stencil brush.

Drawings made by students of grade 7. 

Snowmen mandala

What do you need?

• white drawing sheet 
• compasses
• scissors 
• crayons or oil pastels 
• indian ink
• brush

What should you do?

Step 1

1. Draw a circle with a diameter of 20 cm. 
2. Draw within about 1 cm another circle (the edge of the mandala). 
3. Cut out and fold into 8 pieces. 
4. Draw against one of the folds half of a snowman using black oil pastel/crayon.
5. Fold the sheet and press firmly with your hands to get a print of the snowman on the other side of the fold. 
6. Trace this half with black oil pastel/crayon.
7. Repeat this and draw the other three snowmen. 
8. Color the snowmen and background. 
   
9. Make sure the snowmen are really colored white, otherwise they will turn completely black with ink after step 2.
10. Color the edge with a nice pattern.

Step 2

1. Crumple the picture into a ball. 
2. Make flat again. 
3. Paint the entire drawing with indian ink. Rinse the ink immediately after it in the sink. 
4. Let dry. The ink will rest in the folds and create a great antique effect.
5. Cut the circle and paste it on a colored background. 
   

Drawings made by students of grade 6. 

This lesson is a variaton on 'Autumn leaves mandala'.