Students will be able to create

PAINTING

Patterns in Nature

Target Grade:3

Students will explore color, line, and texture in an oil pastel drawing.

Goal (Terminal Objective):

Students will explore color, line, and texture in an oil pastel drawing of falling leaves.

Objective:

Students will observe how texture and pattern emerge through repetition of line and shape. Students will demonstrate knowledge of repeat design.

National Standards:

Visual Arts Grades K-4 Content Standard 1: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes

Visual Arts Grades K-4 Content Standard 3: Choosing and evaluating a range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas

Visual Arts Grades K-4 Content Standard 5: Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others. Science Cross Curriculum Connection

Purpose:

Students will become aware of variations of media, techniques, and processes used to investigate pattern and texture in an artwork. Students will become familiar with artists known for pattern in their artwork. Students will discriminate between actual texture and implied texture. Students will demonstrate the use of implied depth by overlapping leaf motifs. Students will create an artwork using pattern and texture inspired by design in nature.

New Vocabulary:

actual texture, implied texture, pattern, repeat, nature, human-made, line, shape, overlap, depth

Materials:

#22-2018 Oil Pastel standard.

#22-1908 Glitter Glue Washable

#22-8426 Oval Watercolor set Art-time

#22-7244 144 ct. Graphic Pencils

#23-5027 60 Sheet Sketch Pad

Leaves

Time:

This lesson may be modified from one to three hours, depending upon the size and complexity of expectations.

Introduction and Motivation (Set):

View referenced websites to analyze exemplars. Focus on the works of artists such as Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, Gustave Klimt, Vassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, and the artwork of African, Japanese, and Aboriginal cultures.
Discuss how these exemplars used the elements of art and the principles of design. Review the concepts of line, shape, form, color, texture, and the art principles of emphasis, contrast, repetition, and movement.
Study exemplars to view how artists confront the problem of representing real or actual textures.
Provide examples of objects which have actual texture, allow students to feel the textured items, discuss how those textures can be implied in an artwork.
Observe and discuss the patterns in nature; focus on the shapes and patterns found by studying leaves.

Instruction:

Teacher demonstration of rendering shapes and textures found in leaves.
Teacher will provide examples of overlapping as a technique to imply depth on a two- dimensional plane. Introduce example — ask students to discuss how the leaf texture was implied in the artwork. Teacher will demonstrate color selection and application. Teacher will point out that repetition of the leaf motifs cause movement in the artwork. View the example and discuss how emphasis is used in the details of the leaves.

Activities:

(1) Guided Practice:

  1. Students draw several sketches of leaves from observation.*
  2. Students will select three leaf sketches, refine the lines, and cut out the shapes.
  3. Students will trace these three selected shapes in a random arrangement on a 12” x 18” of drawing paper and color the leaves with oil pastels.
  4. Students apply oil pastels to color the shapes of the leaves, using darker values to outline the veins of the leaves.
  5. Students apply light gradated watercolor washes to the negative spaces in the leaf design. The oil pastel will resist the watercolor washes.
  6. Students use glitter glue to accent to embellish the oil pastel drawing.

(2) Independent Practice and Check for Understanding: Teacher circulates among working students visually recording students demonstrating understanding of objectives and provides reinforcement.

(3) Closure: Students record either by checklist or writing prompt, the symbols used, the connection to the exemplar, and the innovations they provided to the piece.*

Evaluation:

Level One — The finished oil pastel drawing very successfully demonstrates the student’s understanding of pattern and texture in nature. Depth is successfully implied in the design by the use of the student’s understanding of overlapping. The student has shown a high level of craftsmanship and technical skill.

Level Two — The finished oil pastel drawing shows good understanding of repeat design concepts as well as the use of overlapping to imply depth. The drawing is creative and craftsmanship is good.

Level Three —The finished oil pastel drawing shows limited understanding of design concepts and the concept of overlapping to imply depth. Creativity and craftsmanship is minimal.

Level Four — The finished oil pastel drawing shows a lack of understanding of the focused elements of design as well as little understanding of the concept of depth. Technical skill and craftsmanship is poor.

Extension:

Surface may have three-dimensional objects glued onto it as a relief design. Students may add actual leaves to the design. Students may study botanical illustrations and render more detailed sketches of leaves. Alternative media may be incorporated into the oil pastel drawing such as fabric or paper cut leaves and/or copper or foil embossed leaves.

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Matisse
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/matisse/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Klee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky

BY JANE STRICKER,
Art Consultant
#22-2018 Oil Pastel standard.
#22-1908 Glitter Glue Washable
#22-8426 Oval Watercolor set Art-time