In this birch tree project, students learned how to use watercolour techniques such as wet-on-dry, blending, and stippling. They painted birch trees by observing line patterns in nature and practiced creating shadows to show depth. 

The final touch was a woodland animal, such as a red cardinal or fox, which introduced contrast and a clear focal point. All work was done on watercolour paper.

Each year, I reinterpret the birch tree technique in a new way. The trees can be created using tape resist or constructed separately and glued onto the background. The materials change as well; students have experimented with pencil crayon, pastel, charcoal, and watercolour to achieve different bark textures. There isn’t a “best” way - each approach offers unique creative possibilities and shapes the overall mood of the finished piece.