Warm and Cool Silhouettes

Fourth graders did a great job on these landscapes!  This was a project packed with learning goals. First we talked about color temperature.  Students learned that color choice effects how the temperature in the painting looks like it would be if we could enter it. Warm colors make a picture look warm and cool colors make it look cool. Since even the temperature in the desert can get cool at night students got to choose which subject matter they would like in their paintings: cactus or palm trees.

Next we talked about value (the lightness or darkness of a color) and used value to create radiating lines to make our light source (sun or moon) look like it glows.  Kids who wanted to create a warm color temperature mixed different values with yellow and red.  Students who wanted to create a cool color temperature used white with any one of the cool colors of purple, blue, or green.

Finally, the kids learned how to show distance with their palm tree or cactus silhouettes.  The kids learned that atmospheric perspective causes subjects in the distance to look faded.  We created this effect by using light grey in the distance.

How to show distance in artwork: (in the foreground, middle ground and background)
- Size: bigger is closer, smaller is farther
- Value: dark is closer, faded is farther
- Placement in space: lower on the page is closer, higher is in the distance
- Overlapping: the one on top is in the front

The kids were warned that the palm trees were the trickiest and required the most careful brushwork but so many of the kids were up for the challenge!  I let them practice on newsprint before painting on their background paintings. We talked about how to get smooth thin lines with paint!  This is one of the trickiest things to do with paint!

Learning Goals: I can...
- Explain how to show color temperature in artwork
- Explain what a silhouette is
- Mix to make different values
- Explain how to show distance in artwork
- Paint smooth edges.
- Identify foreground, middle ground and background.

The inspiration for this project came from here and here.

Tractor Landscapes

Fifth graders learned about the art elements of space, color, form and shape during our tractor project.   At Forest Grove we used tractors as our subject matter and at Bauer we drew pickup trucks!

Learning Goal: The learner will be able to...
- explain that a landscape is a picture of landforms
- explain how distance affects perceived color and size
- explain the distance between form and shape

We began our projects by creating landscapes.  We talked about how to show distance by drawing large hills in the front (foreground) and smaller hills in the background.  We also talked about how the hills are overlapping.  Both size and overlap help to create the illusion of space and distance.  Next, students were given yellow and blue tempera paint to create hills.  We talked about how hills look blueish in the distance.  Students began by mixing paint for a yellow-green hill and ended with a blue-green hill.

Next, we talked about the difference between a shape (2D enclosed space) and a form (3D version of a shape).  We started by drawing our tractors in 2D and then changed them into 3D drawings by changing the angle so that the viewer can see the thickness (third dimension) of the truck.

Students were encouraged to decorate their tractors in their own unique way!

Finally we cut out our tractors and glued them into the landscapes.  We made our barns small so that they looked like they were off in the distance.  We finished up by using watercolor paint to create sunsets with warm colors.

Cityscapes

2nd graders learned what a cityscape is through the book "Tar Beach," by Faith Ringgold.  Faith Ringgold is one of the artists that all Hudsonville 2nd graders learn about.  She is an African-American artist who makes story quilts.  Here is a link to a video of Faith Ringgold talking about her "Tar Beach" quilt.

Learning Goal: I can show distance in my cityscape.  We discussed how buildings look far away if they are drawn small and look large if they are close.  In the same way, roads look narrower off in the distance.  We also talked about vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines.  See if you can spot them!