T is for Three Layers (twice)

Student sample

Three layer paintings are always a big hit in my painting classes. We start with a line - a pattern, a word, a energetic feeling. Then everyone receives a palette with red, yellow, blue and white paint and a test strip so that they can experiment with mixing the colors. This is my favorite part of the lesson, as shades and mixes begin to appear. This is basically a color-field painting.

Students paint each area - taking care to keep colors separate.  Then, when the paint is dry, white and black markers or oil pastels are used to draw patterns and lines on top. The results are always fabulous and everyone is successful.
Just for the fun of it, I doubled one of my three layer paintings in Photoshop, flipped one and then blended the two images.