Robert Wyland - sea animals

Robert Wyland is an artist best known for painting what he called “whaling walls,” very large outdoor paintings (called murals) of sea life. He had a hard time painting whales on regular sized paper so he would use wall space and paint the animals true to size. Wyland became known as an artist when he began painting these large whale murals.

Today Wyland is the world’s leading Environmentalist Artist because his famous “whaling wall” murals have exposed millions to the graceful beauty of whales, dolphins and other marine and water animal life. He has a foundation that is dedicated to promoting, protecting and preserving the worlds oceans, waterways, and water animal life.

Let's look at some fun sea creatures like the ones Wyland paints! What details (or ABCs of art) do you see in these sea animals that make them special?

Project Sheet

Today you are going to have a large paper and will draw sea animals like Wyland. Octopus, Jellyfish, Angel Fish with Stripes, big Dolphins or whales all make for fun drawings using lots of shapes and lines!

Step 1: First start with crayons to draw sea animals and add details. Try making big and small sea animals! Put as many BRIGHT colors and different types of lines on your page as you can. (zig-zag, wavy, straight!)

Tip: You can add white bubbles and white wavy lines to your paper too. You will see them after step two!

Step 2: Once you are finished with your water animals, you will add the "water". This will be done by painting a blue water color over the top of your entire paper. Make sure you spread the blue water lightly all over your paper. Too much paint will leave you with a wet mess!

Parent Helpers Note:

Please help put labels on the back of each project. Use drying rack in hall to dry pictures. Use a paper towel to pick up any extra runny blue paint before putting it on the rack. Please return supplies to the smART cart afterwards.

Supplies List: