In this lesson, student artists color their dream homes using watercolor, markers, and oil pastels. They are introduced to and encouraged to use warm and cool colors to describe the environment that their house is in.
Students will be working individually, so have materials prepared to go out to tables/desks depending on how your class is set up. There is the option for students to blow dry their paintings before moving on to the next step (if you have blow dryers available). If this is something you decide to offer, make sure to set up additional stations and think how students will be allowed to access these drying stations.
Drawings from Lessons 2 & 3, Oil Pastels, markers, watercolors optional: blow dryers (see worktime), sharpies (in case a students wants to trace details), copy paper (see early finishers)
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⚲'Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin', Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1971-95
Christo & Jeanne-Claude, were a married couple who created art together—often by making changing something in the environment. Christo and Jeanne-Claude were born on the same day, June 13, 1935; they first met in Paris in 1958.& fell in love and married. They always flew in separate planes: in case one crashed, the other could continue their work. According to them, the purpose of their art was to create works of beauty and to make people view familiar landscapes differently.
Project the inspiration image where students can see it. Give students a moment to study it silently, then begin a brief discussion with the phrase, “What can we find?”. Paraphrase what students say for the benefit of the class, being careful to remain neutral, then ask “What else can we find?”.
Alternately, allow them to draw or write what they notice on a blank piece of paper or in a sketchbook.
The point of this discussion time is to have students learn and add onto each other’s thoughts. By remaining neutral and simply repeating what students say you allow students to do the heavy mental lifting and also create an environment where there is no wrong answer, fostering creativity and mental risk-taking.
Check for understanding by asking, “Who was listening closely that can sum up what we are doing today?” Make sure that student artists can list all the steps and clarify anything that needs clarifying.
Go over the order they can work: paint, marker, pastel. Make sure they understand how to use each option, and that they are able to use all the options, or just one of them.
Tell student artists they will have two days to finish coloring, so to take their time.
The students work independently on their work as the teacher circulates. Foster strong work habits by commenting on student artists who are focused on their work as well as student artist who seems be pushing themselves to try new things.
This lesson is focused on describing the environment using color. Students should be intentionally using colors to describe where their house is located—in a warm or cool environment. At the beginning of class focus conversation on how the student’s environment feels—whether it feel rainy, or dry, etc. Students will first finish their watercolor, allow it to dry,then work back into it. Students will have this lesson and next to finish it, so there is no rush. Drying stations can be set up with blow dryers to speed the process along. Alternatively, students who finish painting can work on the ‘early finishers’ assignment while they wait for their painting to dry. While students are painting, remind them not to overpaint, as they’ll be going back into it with different media. The idea is to get color across the whole page and to map out the basic areas, starting with the lightest color in the color family and moving to the darkest. Once students move on to different media, comment on the different ways that students are combining media. Be specific in your comments (interesting how you are letting the marker show through the oil pastel to create that texture, the painted sky makes a nice contrast to the very defined markered building, etc.)
Use 'what, how, and why' and then take comments or questions.
Depending on the teacher’s style of classroom management, it might be helpful to only choose and train a few kids to clean. The rest of the class can be busy with the presentation. Make sure to train these helpers well in advance so that you aren’t left with a messy room.
Clean-up times will vary with materials; get to know your class and allow 5-10 minutes depending on how efficient they are and whether or not the material was messy.
Choose presenting student artists in advance and let them know during their work time so that they are prepared.
Sharing should work as follows:
If details are getting lost, you can offer a sharpie to students to bring them back out (prior to oil pastels). If they have a good reason (such as an environment half in dark and half in day, or a sunset) and a plan, they can paint with both with warm and cool colors. But it must be a reasoned decision.
Students should become aware that leaving layers of wet watercolor will cause subsequent layers to blend into each other, while adding to dry watercolor will cause areas to be crisp. If a student is having difficulty controlling their paint, question him/her to find out what their intent was and guide them towards the correct technique.
It is ok if they don’t get past painting—in fact, that is an ideal place to start Lesson 5.
If a student artist finishes ahead of time, ask them to imagine themselves living in the house. Do they have a family? What is their career? What do they do for fun? Ask them to write to imagine something that could happen to them in the house and write a story about it. If the student is uncomfortable with writing, then ask them to draw a comic.
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