This term, our Year 6 artists have been diving deep into the world of monochromatic watercolour painting. By stripping away the full rainbow and focusing on just one colour, the children have unlocked the secrets of light, shadow, and atmospheric depth. Before picking up the brushes for their final pieces, the students took a “deep dive” into colour theory. We explored three key concepts:

• Hue: The pure colour itself (e.g., a bold Blue or a vibrant Green).
• Tint: Adding water (or white) to a hue to create lighter versions.
• Shade: Adding a touch of black (or a complementary colour) to a hue to create darker versions.

To practise, Year 6 took a flat circle and made it “pop” off the page using only their chosen hue. By carefully layering their tints where the light hits and their shades in the shadows, they successfully mastered the art of creating 3D effects.

Putting this into practise, Year 6 then applied these skills to create stunning mountain landscapes. They used a clever technique called atmospheric perspective, where the background uses the lightest tints for the furthest peaks to make them look distant and misty, the midground increases the saturation of the hue, and the foreground uses the darkest shades for the closest ridges to create a sense of scale and ‘weight.’

The results were fabulous!