Shady Little Shamrocks- A St. Patrick's Day Art Lesson

Shade: A color mixed with varying degrees of black.

Tint: A color mixed with varying degrees of white.


What you will need:

Paint- I used tempera for this.(Green, White, and Black)
Brushes
Cardstock or watercolor paper

Start by making a heart template. Cut a small piece of cardstock in half and then cut out half of heart shape. Open to reveal a perfectly symmetrical heart. Use the heart template to create a three leaved shamrock. (You could create a four leaved- clover, but St. Patrick actually used the three leaves to help explain the idea of the Trinity to his Irish parishioners.)
Add a stem. Be sure to make the stem very thick.
Draw three gradually smaller hearts and stems inside each of the larger shapes.
In the center shapes paint with your base color of green straight from the bottle. In two of the shapes add white to the green and paint the next ring. Add white again and paint the outer ring.
In the other two shapes, add a drop of black(a drop is really all you need-it is very powerful!) and paint the next ring, another drop of black for the outer ring. Add some grass and maybe a rainbow or a leprechaun! You could also wait for the paint to dry, cut it out and glue it to another background.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more shamrock art and a little more about St. Patrick.



Also a little sneak peak at some projects I've been working on...