Watercolor Planets

For this project, we did a lesson on watercolor painting and different watercolor techniques. We began by discussing Ludek Pesek and Lucien Rudaux, two artists very famous for their paintings of space. We then discussed 6 different watercolor techniques, including wet-on-wet, dry brush, salt, splatter, crayon resist, and gradation. After practicing these techniques, we then created our own watercolor planets, using 3 techniques of our choice. Once we had created our planet, we then glued it onto a piece of construction paper and used oil pastels to create a galaxy in the background. 

For an extension activity, I could have students do a similar project to this, but instead of painting planets, we could use it for a holiday theme, such as painting a picture of a pumpkin for Halloween or a tree for Christmas. I would also challenge students to use different techniques than they had used before so that they would have experience using all the watercolor techniques we discussed.