1. State the focus of your project (1-2 sentences).
For my project, I will be focusing on the concept of watercolour painting. I chose to focus on watercolour painting because it is something I have always found fascinating, but never had the time or motivation to try it. I am not a very artistic person, but I want to challenge myself by focusing on something visual art related.
2. State at least one key inquiry question that you wish to research within this project.
How does the process of watercolour painting occur? Is it easier or harder to draw pictures using watercolour painting than just regular drawing? How would I be able to teach and implement watercolour painting into my grade one classroom?
3. Briefly describe how you will document your process throughout the course of the project. This documentation is what you will hand in at the end of the assignment.
There are quite a few ways that I will be documenting my watercolour painting experience. First of all, I will create an online ePortfolio that will have all of my creations. In a way, this will be considered as my online scrapbook since I am unable to share any of it in person. Additionally, with each creation added to the ePortfolio, I will add a description of progress made, difficulty, and any new tips that were discovered. As a whole, my project will be documented through my ePortfolio blog. Any information about this project, progress, and resources will be linked onto this blog. I am convinced that I may need to watch a few videos as well as read a few articles on tips and tricks to watercolour paintings. Therefore, a resource list will be incorporated at the end of the project. I am also going to create some lesson plans for watercolour painting that could potentially be used with a grade one class once I finish my degree. In these lesson plans, it could simply be using the colours of the rainbow and drawing a line of each colour on a paper.
4. Develop a timeline for your project. Map out a schedule of the time you will commit to the project. Determine when you will commit to the project—daily, several times a week, weekly, biweekly, or devoting large chunks of time to the project such as on weekends, etc. The nature of time commitment will be unique to your project and practice. Your timeline may change as the project progresses, but it is important to lay out an initial timeline and intentions to help focus yourself.
Week 1 (February 2): Purchase all of the materials needed to complete the watercolour painting.
Week 2 (February 7-13): Begin the watercolour painting by simply adding each colour onto the paper to understand how much they combine together/don’t combine together
Week 3 (February 14- 20): With each colour, paint a bit onto the paper. What happens if there is lots of water mixed in? What happens if there is very little water mixed in? What happens if you press the paint brush down hard? What happens if you lightly push the paint brush?
Week 4 (February 21- 27): READING WEEK. Using the watercolours, draw a line of each colour close to each other to examine what occurs and if it combines together or not (combining together is not desired).
Week 5 (February 28-March 6): Using the watercolours, I will once again draw a line of each colour close to each other to examine what occurs and if it combines together or not (combining together is not desired). Only do this if more practiced is needed. If ready to move on, begin drawing circles around each other with different colours, attempting to prevent the colours from combining together.
Week 6 (March 7-13): Attempt painting hills with the watercolours. Possibly also creating a sky scene in the background.
Week 7 (March 14 – 20): Attempt to paint flowers onto the hill scene or onto a new piece of paper.
Week 8 (March 21-27): Try painting some simple fruits onto a blank sheet. For example, lemons, limes, watermelon, or any other desired fruits.
Week 9 (March 28-April 3): Find an image online that I would like to attempt to paint with my watercolours.
Week 10 (April 4-10): Find an image online that I would like to attempt to paint with my watercolours.
Week 11 (April 11-17): Find an image online that I would like to attempt to paint with my watercolours (if time permits)
April 19: Project due
As outlined above, I will attempt to do one thing with the watercolour painting each week. In total, I will probably spend one day a week on the painting. Particularly, the paint will either occur on weekends or evenings. However, as I begin to get more detailed I might take my time during the week to finish the painting.
5. Troubleshooting: list 3-4 challenges that you might face during the process. For each challenge, write a brief statement of how you could move through the challenge.
First of all, I may experience the colours on my creation forming together and spreading. To help this, I could try new paint brushes that are thinner, which allows for less paint/liquid on the brush. Additionally, I could use less water in order to allow for the watercolours to not be as runny. Possibly running out of watercolour supplies. With this pandemic occurring, sometimes purchasing more than one of something becomes difficult. If this does happen where I run out of the supplies, I could switch to another type of creation such as regular painting or using oil pastels. I may experience frustration with myself if I am unable to create a desired piece, such as a specific object. If this issue occurs, I could potentially take a step back and practice basic watercolour painting skills before attempting the desired piece again. Additionally, I can also remind myself that I am just learning, and it may not be easy at first to complete.
6. Choose a ‘support pal’, someone who you can connect with as a sounding board, offer support as needed, and share in your joys thorough the process. This can be someone in the class or not. Indicate your support pal and why you asked them to take on this role.
For my support pal, I will be choosing my boyfriend, Reece. I chose to use him for support because he always ensures I am staying on task. If I have no motivation to do the watercolour painting on a day I am supposed to, he will help me gain the motivation to do it. If I am getting frustrated with a certain section of my piece, he will support me and ensure that I complete the piece with confidence and a smile on my face. Additionally, I enjoy sharing accomplishments with him which will allow for me to feel confident in my watercolour painting skills.