Paul Gauguin is such a downer to teach elementary students. They love success. They want to hear about artists who made a name for themselves while still living.
No such luck when studying Gauguin. He died sad and penniless, with nary a credit to his name. Well, he’s certainly made his mark now. Definitely an artist worth studying – and plenty of fodder for elementary art projects to boot.
I thought the fourth-graders would enjoy a stint using liquid watercolors. In my mind, the vibrancy of color they provide most closely matches the colors used in Gauguin’s paintings.
As always, I wanted to include an art principle, so despite the flatness and minimal perspective used in Gauguin’s works, I taught them about fore, middle and background, loosely using his Tahitian Landscape as a model.
Draw a simple background lightly in pencil. 
Add a few things in the middle ground. 
Draw at least one large object in the foreground. 
Outline your entire drawing in black sharpie. 
Add liquid watercolor to all white space, using colors one would not expect.
Here’s the slideshow I used to instruct the class on Paul Gauguin and to explain the steps of the project: