Landscapes

I am beginning a really fun landscapes lesson where I teach the students to use masking techniques to create a forest landscape. This lesson almost always produces great results and the kids have a lot of fun learning the new painting techniques. I have them lay different sized masking tape on the paper. (this year I am using a donated paper I have a ton of, and it has almost a plastic quality so the tape does not tear it.) Then they paint their horizon line and can choose if they want a sunset or blue sky, etc... We let the background dry and the next class they pull off the tape and paint the details of their trees. We look at birch trees, and students usually really enjoy painting that type of tree.