Wax Resist Seascapes

I did this project with my nature-themed art camp. The kids really enjoyed looking at all the photographs of different sea creatures. I brought in several books about marine fish for them to look through, in addition to reference photographs. We spent several minutes brainstorming animals and discussing the wide variety of plants and animals that live in the ocean.


 The materials you will need for this project are:
Pencils
Watercolor paper
Oil pastels or crayons
Blue, Purple and Green watercolor paint
Large watercolor brushes


The kids started out by drawing their sea creatures with pencils. I required at least three animals in the picture. Then, they colored their animals using the crayons. An important part of this activity is encouraging them to bear down hard when coloring. Don't forget to tell the kids that any areas that they want to be white need to be colored with white crayons or oil pastels. We used crayons in my camp because I had such a wide variety of ages. Oil pastels would probably yield better results and can be blended with a little baby oil on a q-tip but they are too messy for the little ones. After the kids have colored all of their animals, they can use the watercolor paint to create a wash over the entire paper. The paint will just bead up on the crayon areas and can either be left alone or wiped off with a paper towel. I let the kids choose any combination of green, blue or purple paint. Some students chose to add salt to their paintings to create a bubble effect. I think these turned out really great and were a good summer activity when so many children were going to the beach on vacations.