In this project, we created a mixed media art piece of our solar system. First, we used a special technique of watercolor painting called "wet on wet" painting to create the background. This technique is used to create a large area of colors by wetting the paper first and adding wet paint into the water. This causes lots of color blending and eliminates brushstrokes. We then added salt onto our wet painted paper. The salt absorbs the water and the paint pigment to create interesting markings on the paper. When the painting is dry and the salt is wiped away, the result looks like distant stars.
The second step of our mixed media art piece was to create planets in low relief. A good example of low relief sculpture is a penny. Its kind of flat, but still 3D. We used Crayola Model Magic air dry clay to sculpt our planets. First we marbleized the clay with color from magic markers, which means we mixed color into the white clay but we didn't mix it in all the way, leaving swirls of color and white. Then we flattened our clay into circles creating low relief planets. After they were dry, we arraigned them on our watercolor background paper.
Finally, it was time for finishing touches. Students made a variety of creative choices- they cut suns out of paper, used oil or chalk pastels, glitter and glue to assemble their accurate yet unique solar system art. They came out beautifully!
