Aspen Trees - Mixed Media Art Project

Who doesn't love Rocky Mountain golden aspen trees!  This project can be done anywhere from 1st - 5th grade and is super easy to follow along with.  Some of the art concepts covered include: overlapping, shadows/light source, splattering technique, and positive/negative space.


Step 1:

Draw vertical lines with a pencil to create the first tree. Add diagonal lines behind the first tree to add two more.  Add another in the corner.  Then add lines coming from the tree trunks for branches.

Step 2:

Now, paint in the negative space with a black water based paint.

Step 3:

Next, splatter wet, black paint all over the picture to give the aspens their spotty texture.  

Step 4: 

Then, outline the edges of the trees over the original pencil lines with oil pastel (or something dark) to make them stand out.

Step 5:

Finger paint using a thick acrylic yellow/orange paint to add leaves between the tree branches.

All done!

Here are a few student examples from 2nd grade: 

Black Canyon of the Gunnison - October, 2017

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is one of Colorado's four National Parks.  The height, or rather depth, of the canyon walls is dramatic.  The Painted Wall goes down about 2000 ft.  The whole park is just one road that has lots of stops at trails and overlooks.  I would compare the road and the beauty to the Colorado National Monument in Grand Junction.

We arrived in the late afternoon and did a few hikes to the overlooks with the kids.  It was a little nerve racking with a 4 year old wanting to climb on the rails with steep drops underneath.  Our last stop was the Painted Wall overlook.  After the sun set behind the hills, the clouds lit up with color making for some nice photographs:

Painted Wall sunburst

Black Canyon Sunset - Prints Available

Fall Color Trip - 2017

The start of October begins the end of the fall season in the high country of Colorado.  I wish this colorful time lasted longer than a couple weeks.  I suppose the short and sweet window of photographic opportunities is what makes it so exciting.  This year, we took a family trip to the San Juans and chose photography locations that would be easily accessible so we could take the kids along for the ride.  We stayed 2 nights at a hotel near Ridgway and 1 night camping in the Uncompahgre National Forest.  The colors overall were a bit dull compared to our visit to this area 3 years ago, but there were still many pockets of bright gold.

This is a big photo dump from the trip.  It's divided into 2 major areas:




Oray/Ridgway/Telluride

 

Crystal Lake near Ouray

Mt. Sneffels

Dallas Divide

Last Dollar Road

Ralph Lauren's Ranch

The Cimarron Mountains

Owl Creek Pass

Precipice Peak

All of these images are for sale as photography prints at http://aaronspong.com/collections/autumn