Northern Lights Landscapes

Credit: Elements of the Art Room, Mrs. Cartmill's Art Room

Supplies:
Chalk Pastels (various warm and cool colors)
White Oil Pastels
White Cardstock Paper
8.5x11 Black Glitter Paper
Black Acrylic Paint and Paper Plates (for palettes)
Fan and Flat Brushes
Baby Wipes

If you've been at Prairie View since Kindergarten, this will be our fifth Northern Lights project! But for those of you just joining us, let's review The Science and Beauty of Auroras!

Here is our project today:

Now that we know the science, let's take one more look at the colors and how the lights dance and move as we get ready for our art project!

Instructions:

1. Hand out Glitter Paper.
2. Add a thick white line to the bottom of the paper using a white oil pastel (about a 1/4 of the way from the bottom of the Glitter Paper). We want to leave lots of "sky" above for our Northern Lights.
3. Next we are going to work on our Northern Lights. Take a look at this video for the technique before you begin. (Turn off video at 2:51 mark as we will be doing something different with our landscapes once the Northern Lights are completed).

4. Tear white cardstock horizontally.
5. Lay down the cardstock and add warm chalk pastel colors to the top along the torn side (only on the white - not the black glitter paper).

6. Once all of the colors have been added to the torn side (see example above), place the cardstock near the top of the black glitter paper and using your finger, swipe up to transfer the chalk pastel to the black glitter paper like in the video. See how the colors are blending?

7. Tear off another strip of white cardstock in a different pattern and now use cool colors. Remember that we want our Northern Lights to move across the paper!

8. Alternate warm and cool colors with the remaining cardstock - moving the cardstock around to create different directions. Notice that some are close together and others are spaced apart. Make sure to take a look at your spacing and plan so that you are able to get all four strips onto the skyline before you reach the "snow."

9. Once you have your Northern Lights completed, fill in the bottom with the rest of your "snow" (if not already completed).
10. Add a couple of trees (2-3 only) to the landscape. Watch this video (and technique) that we have used before:

11. Set aside to dry. Once dry, feel free to add a little bit of white oil pastel to the tips of your trees for "snow."