"Something Precious to Me"

I asked the 8th grade students to think of something that is very special and precious to them. They had to create an observational painting using a monochromatic color scheme to paint their object. I enjoyed seeing what they chose for "precious" objects. The students were very thoughtful about their choices.  This was a great project to do after the gridded portrait drawings because the students had just practiced using various shades with pencil and with this project had to create various shades of a single paint color.