Picasso Watercolor Faces

We used watercolor paint, paper, pencil and black marker to create Picasso like paintings of faces.

Picasso, whose paintings and sculptures are famous throughout the world, was born in Spain and spent time in France during the 1800's and 1900's. His artistic style changed many times during his long career. During his blue period Picasso was deeply depressed and painted primarily with different shades of blue. His rose period was a happier time, and the colors of his paintings changed to reflect it. Next he moved onto cubism, and during this time he created cubism versions of paintings from other famous masters.

Before painting, we read Picasso and the Girl with a Ponytail and Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists - Picasso.




I previewed the video Picasso: The full story, and marked several clips to watch with the children. There were several portions inappropriate for children.

Next, we followed the tutorial from Art with Alex, for creating Picasso watercolor self-portraits.

First we completed pencil sketches of faces.

Profile lines were drawn down the middle and the features on each side of the face were purposely made different.

The sketches were filled in with watercolor paint, again making sure that each side of the face was different from the other.

When the paint was dry, black marker was used to outline the faces.

My six year old daughter's painting is on the left and mine is on the right.

My 12 year old's painting is on the left and my son's is on the right.




To see more of our art activities, please visit our Arts and Crafts Page.

This post is linked to:
We Made That
And Here We Go

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