The Great Wave off Kanagawa

8th graders learned about Japanese art, and we focused specifically on Hokusai's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa," created with the wood-blocking technique in the 1830's. It was the most famous print in a series of wood-block prints titled "36 Views of Mt. Fiji."

In order to create our own waves. we used oil pastels, crayons and watercolor paint. First, students drew the waves with white oil pastels, filling in sections of the wave with different zentangle style patterns. Then, they added details with blue and brown crayons. The last step was to fill the page with different hues of liquid watercolor.