6th Grade Acrylic Landscapes on Canvas

I've really been enjoying teaching my current group of 6th grade students! They have been working on a landscape in acrylics on canvas for the past few weeks, and I've been really pleased with the results so far. Usually, I wait until all four classes in a grade are finished before posting pictures, but I only have one 6th grade class done so far (the other classes have had too many snow days!), and I was so excited about the finished paintings, I'm going to post them now anyway!

We began the lesson by looking at three famous landscapes; one by Van Gogh, one by Julian Dupré, and one by Claude Monet. The students learned how to paint in layers; all three paintings were completed with the sky first, then the land, and then all the details. Before beginning painting, the students spent some time on their iPads, looking up landscape paintings that they found inspiring. Then, they sketched out ideas.

The day that the students began paintings, they completed only the sky. They painted about halfway down the page. The second day, they began working on the land; the next several weeks were spent in adding details.