Ringgold School District’s sixth-grade art classes are having a doggone good time painting pet portraits for a cause.
For the next couple weeks, art students will diligently work to create beautiful watercolor pet portraits, commissioned by people in the community. Each pet portrait sold for a $5 donation, and proceeds benefit Pet Search.
“I always like making connections to the community. I feel like it makes things real: this is something that we use in real life, and it’s not just something that you do in school,” said art teacher Marlynn White. “It’s benefitting Pet Search and Animal Rescue. They (students) can do something that makes a difference in the world.”
Earlier this year, White created a website for her art students’ pet portrait project. She sent emails to students’ parents and advertised the fundraiser on social media, and then waited.
“We got about 70 orders, so that was pretty good,” White said. “I wasn’t sure what to expect.”
Neither were her students. When White announced that each of her 26 art students was responsible for two portraits each, and that the students in the other art class would complete one pet portrait a piece, students were stunned.
“When I gave them the final number, they were a little panicky at first,” White laughed. “I was like, no, we got it.”
Before advertising the fundraising art project, students discussed what medium they felt would best showcase pets. They settled on watercolor portraits.
Students’ family members and friends, Pet Search volunteers and members of the community without connections to either cause submitted portraits of their fur babies. Students are working to capture the personalities of the best dogs, the cutest cats and one very loved chameleon.
Based on a 9-by-9 photograph of the pet, students are drawing contour lines – the animal’s head, eyes, ears and nose – to create a coloring book-like outline.
“They also had the option to transfer those lines directly from the photo using a tracing method,” White said.
Then, students add a watercolor wash to the contour line piece’s background. When that dries, they watercolor paint the animal, practicing their shading and color values skills. Finally, students add details with colored pencils to create a unique, mixed-media watercolor portrait.
“It was the kids’ idea to use watercolor and add details with colored pencil when they dry,” said White, who volunteers with Pet Search and had toyed with the portrait project last school year.
Portraits are expected to be completed by the end of this month, when they will be either picked up by or shipped to customers. White said this is the first time any of her art classes have created commissioned works for the general public.
“This is a little more intimidating because they’re going to someone else, and they (students) are not taking them home,” she said.
Students are enjoying the watercolor portrait project for a cause. While White doesn’t have a grand total, she said so far, students have raised about $350 for Pet Search.
“The director of Pet Search, Sherry Knight, she loved the idea of doing this,” White said. “People really love getting portraits done of their pets.”
And for students, she said, “making all those connections and having the kids make a difference using their art” is a lesson to celebrate.
