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Fun Heather Galler Art Lesson For Kids

Are you looking for a new lesson that will make your students feel successful in your art class? We always love using famous artists as inspiration and it is even better when they are contemporary artists. Create awesome fold art landscapes with this Heather Galler lesson plan idea.

glow in the dark landscape oil pastel projects by kids..

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How will students create landscapes?

Your children will develop new skills while creating their own easy landscape ink drawing with a glow-in-the-dark end result.

You can always modify this lesson plan to use any materials of your choice. However, kids absolutely love seeing their artworks glow in the dark.

hand using ink in ink dauber to draw art project.

What age is this project for?

Elementary art teachers (and parents at home) will love this art lesson plan is great for a variety of grade levels. We think it is perfect for 2nd grade and up. You can modify this art project by making more advanced designs and patterns.

Other Heather Galler Inspired Art Lessons

From different materials to trying a new subject matter, there are a lot of ways you could use Heather Galler as inspiration in your art room. Here are a few ideas you could use to modify this art lesson.

  • Draw with colored markers
  • Oil pastel and watercolor paint resist
  • Watercolor paint first with tempera paint on top for details
  • Use her portraits as inspiration to create a self-portrait lesson
  • Design your own pet inspired by her pet portraits

Who is Heather Galler?

Heather Galler is an abstract folk artist who uses bright colors and patterns in landscapes, portraits and cheerful still lives. She is a contemporary American artist. For this art project, we looked at her landscapes for our art history discussion.

Resources For Work of Artist Heather Galler

We like using these two slide shows on YouTube when we discuss her artwork.

What is folk art?

Folk Art is the art of the everyday. Folk art pieces, such as quilts and other items, can be decorative or utilitarian. Normally folk artists aren’t trained professionally in the arts. 

According to the introduction of Folk Art Fusion by Heather Galler, folk art “is created mostly by untrained artists” and truly shows the human spirit through artwork. 

Discussion Ideas and Questions To Ask When Looking At Her Work

  • What shapes do you see? 
  • How would you describe the lines?
  • Did she repeat patterns? How does this create balance? 
  • Why do you think she chose to make her landscapes in this style?

What art principles is her artwork great for?

We love using her patterned landscapes for students to understand balance. They easily can see how she spaced out some of her designs.

Her artwork also opens the discussion about giving your eye somewhere to rest. The kids who understand you don’t need to fill the whole page with patterns normally have great results.

Art Concepts Taught

  • What is a landscape?
  • Elements of Art: line, shape, color
  • Balance: you can also teach about symmetry with these easy mandala art lesson for kids
  • Pattern
  • Focal Point
  • Depth: the diagonal lines going back into space help create the illusion of space.
  • Folk Art

Recommended Supplies

fluorescent oil pastels and ink in ink dauber on shiplap.

What if you don’t have ink daubers?

You can complete the black outlines with a permanent marker. We love showing kids new materials and ideas. Ink daubers are really such a fun and easy way to get different types of lines with younger children.

Read More>>>>>See Our Tips for Using Ink Daubers With Kids in this post.

Day 1: Discuss Artwork and Draw A Landscape With Ink

Watch Slideshows and Discuss Her Work

Look at the slideshows of artworks by Heather Galler with your young artists.

We also like to watch all the way through and then go back and pause certain artworks. You can use your own questions or look at the questions above to help get your students talking about the Art Elements and Principles of Design.

Draw Landscape With Ink

Draw a landscape with ink daubers on heavy drawing paper following the steps below. We like to do these on 12″ x 18″ white drawing paper. If you are not using ink, then you can get away with a smaller piece of paper.

How To Draw A Simple Landscape With Ink

Follow these simple steps to draw a landscape in the style of Heather Galler

Step 1: Draw Horizon Line

Draw a horizon line with an ink dauber. Encourage children to make it straight or slight wavy (but not too wavy).

black wavy line drawn across white paper.

Step 2: Split Up The Ground

Draw 5-7 diagonal black lines.

5 diagonal lines drawn under horizon line.

Step 3: Divide Large Sections With Lines

Split the sections into two with a horizontal line.

start of landscape drawing in ink with lines in foreground.

Step 4: Add Details

Add unique designs and details such as a house, sunset, and trees. A little bit will go a long way here. You could look up pictures of farms and other outdoor scenes for inspiration.

folk art art project landscape drawn in ink.

The biggest challenge is getting children to add enough detail without overdoing it. They should still have some negative space in the sky or other areas.

Step 5: Let landscape ink drawings dry.

student drawing landscape in with black ink in ink dauber.

Day 2-4: Begin To Use Neon Oil Pastels

Neon Oil Pastels

Use neon oil pastels to create fun patterns below the horizon line. Review how to create balance in your artwork. 

Step 6: Start With Patterns In The Ground

Continue with oil pastels in the ground first. Encourage children to come up with creative patterns and not just the typical polka dots.

Here the artist was pressing a little too hard. Children needed to be reminded to not press too hard or they end up with “boogers”.

pink neon oil pastel on white paper with black ink.

Step 7: Continue Using Oil Pastels

Once the ground is complete, add oil pastels to the trees/etc.

Only Use One or Two Colors In The Sky

Finish the oil pastel drawing by only using one or two colors in the sky. If students used mostly warm colors in their patterns, maybe encourage them to use cool colors for the sky.

Students will understand why if you talk about what would happen if they made everything too patterned or too colorful. 

The End Result

Seriously, kids will love how these turn out. Every year, they are amazed at looking at their artworks under the black lights. We just love this art project for kids.

glow in the dark art project under black light.

Art Lesson FAQs

What are the best neon oil pastels?

The projects you are seeing here are done with Sargent Neon Oil pastels. They can be difficult to find at a cheap price, so make sure you shop around. Crayola also has a neon oil pastel that would work well.
The biggest con to the Sargent brand is that they are very soft and you have to encourage kids to color lightly with them.

What other art materials will glow in the dark?

In addition to neon oil pastels, Fluorescent Tempera Cakes, Fluorescent Liquid Watercolor Paint, Fluorescent Tempera Paint, Neon Tape, Fluorescent Tagboard or Paper will all glow in the dark.

More Art Ideas Inspired by Women Artists

This Heather Galler-inspired art lesson is so fun whether you choose to create landscapes or other fun glow-in-dark artworks with kids. Everyone will love seeing these finished glow-in-the-dark art pieces in your art gallery.

Do you like this art project? Be sure to give us 5 stars below 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 and have fun being creative with your family.

glow in the dark landscape oil pastel projects by kids..

Easy Folk Art Landscape Lesson For Kids

This fun and easy art lesson is inpsired by the artists, Heather Galler. Create amazing glow in the dark landscapes today.
Print Pin Rate
Course: Art Lesson Inspired By Artists
Keyword: folk art landscape lesson, glow in the dark landscape art project, Heather Galler art lesson
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Active Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 5 minutes
Author: Erin
Cost: under $10

Equipment

Materials

Instructions

  • Draw landscape with ink. Start with the horizon line.
  • Draw 5-7 lines to divide up foreground.
  • Draw extra lines to split those shapes.
  • Add details such as a house, sunset or trees.
  • Let ink fully dry.
  • Use neon oil pastels in the ground. Create unique and interesting patterns.
  • Continue using oil pastels in the details and one or two colors in the sky.
  • Display under black lights for all to see and enjoy.

Notes

  • You can use a variety of art materials to complete this project.
  • If you do not want to use oil pastels for the whole drawing, watercolor paint would work to give your artwork contrast.

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