Nature: Fourth and Fifth Visit

Nature

Standards

Standard 1

Objective 1E: Create the appearance of depth by drawing distant objects smaller with less detail  
                        than objects in the foreground. 
Objective 1F: Establish more natural size relationships among objects in drawings.  
Objective 3C: Clean and put back to order art making areas after projects. 
Objective 2D: Create a work of art that uses all of the space on the paper.

Outcomes

-Students will realistically draw a landscape from life that incorporates depth and uses the full sheet 

  of paper.

-Students will reflect on their relationship with nature and use watercolor, on their landscape 

 drawings, to represent it whether negative or positive.

-Students will correctly learn how to handle watercolor supplies as well as how to properly clean up.

Vocabulary

1    -Perspective

2     -Foreground

3     -Middle ground

4     -Background

5     -Realistic/Realism

6     -Landscape

7     -Atmospheric perspective

8     -Contour

Artists

Landscape Artists

            Thomas Moran

            James McNeill Whistler

            Winslow Homer

Watercolor Artists

            Maja Wrońska

            Jeanne Larson

            Evelyn Dunphy

Leading Questions

1      -What is nature?

2      -Do we enjoy nature?

3      -Is it important to us? Why or why not?

4      -What does nature do for us?

5      -What is your personal relationship to nature?

6      -Can we survive without nature?

Outline

First we will discuss nature as a class. The leading questions will be addressed and students will be thinking about how they personally feel about nature throughout the project. Then we will discuss landscapes. What are landscapes? Do they include buildings or manmade objects? Is it only nature things? Landscape artists will be shown, see list of artists. While viewing these images students will be introduced to the terms of foreground, background, and middle ground. We will also go over atmospheric perspective and perspective, such as when you are looking from different angles at the same object or when you are down low by the grass looking up at the mountains vs if you are standing on top of the mountain. We will also discuss how we think the artist feels about nature through their color choices, how they painted it (whether sporadic or inside the lines, misty or crisp, etc.) We will discuss how to draw realistically. That you have to draw what you see not what you know, meaning that a majority of the time they will be attentive to the landscape and not focused on their drawing. To correctly draw realistically they must follow each line in the landscape with their eyes as their pencil moves on the paper.

            Once we have discussed landscape students will go outside to realistically draw their own contour landscapes. They will choose their own perspective and must fill their entire paper and include a background, middle ground, and foreground. They will do this using graphite. While they are drawing I want them to continue thinking about how they feel about nature, and about their relationship with nature.

            When they are finished we will all come back inside and talk about watercolor, the techniques (flat wash, dry brush, blotting, layering, etc), artists (again- see list of artists), and how to properly handle materials (don’t leave brush in water, get water off brush by scraping on side of cup or on paper towel, don’t touch the bristles, etc), and clean up (empty cups, clean brushes by swishing in water and scraping and wiping, wiping down watercolor container, etc).

Finally students will apply watercolor to their landscape drawings according to how they feel about nature. For this part of the project they are not required to stay in the lines, use realistic colors, or even fill the entire page with color. However they feel about nature should be reflected in how they use the watercolor. They should be somewhat used to this idea because they have practiced expressing emotion through color, line, and composition with oil pastels and collage. Once their watercolors are dry, and if we have time, I would also like them to use pen and ink to define the lines of their landscape. But this can be their decision if they want to or not depending on if it works with their idea.

Assessment

            While the students are drawing I will be walking around helping them draw realistically, giving them pointers and they will constantly be checking if their drawing matches the landscape and perspective they have chosen. While handling supplies students will be helping each other use them properly and help each other clean up correctly. When completely finished, students will turn to the person beside them and explain how they feel about nature, whether positive or negative, and explain how their art piece displays this feeling through the colors, application of paint, strokes, composition of color, etc.