What Color is the Wind?

I just love this beautiful autumn art project! 

I like the idea of visualizing the wind, which we can hear and we can feel and sometimes we can smell. So we ask ourselves, what would the wind look like?

Also, I love process art. This project lets the children experiment (play) with fun art processes, different media, and beautiful autumn colors!



To create this artwork, we first paint a big piece of mixed-media white paper with swirls of color! We use cake temperas, because they are similar to watercolor, but BIG! We use large easel brushes for this, and we fill up the entire paper.

Then, on another piece of white paper, we scrape black liquid tempera paint with an old credit card to create marks like those on a birch or aspen tree. Sometimes we paint long lines first to scrape between, but that's optional. 

After the paint is dry, we cut long strips of this paper to create our trees, and shorter strips for branches.  



We arrange and glue the trees to the background, then we add the branches. 





We cut and crinkle a few bits of colored tissue paper to create falling leaves. 

These are glued to the artwork for a 3-D effect and viola!





This gorgeous autumn scene!