by Misha Ryan
Ave Maria School, Parker, CO

MATERIALS LIST:

• Elmer’s liquid glue bottles


• Colored pencils


• Watercolor paints (preferably liquids)


• Black tempera cakes


• Pencils and/or sharpie pens


• Large white, heavy paper (railroad board or watercolor paper)


• Soft bristled paint brushes (various sizes)

OBJECTIVES:

• Student will gain knowledge of great American artist, Georgia O’Keeffe.
• Students make choices on color that best reflect nature.
• Students demonstrate basic knowledge of painting, drawing, and color mixing.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Day #1: Discuss Georgia O’Keeffe and pass around color copies of her work. Use post cards, color copies from the internet like www.art.com and calendar pages of her work. After every student has had a chance to look at O'Keeffe's work and discuss informally with their table mates, the instructor opens the discussion up for a more formal observation. The students are asked what they have observed about O’Keeffe’s work, as they list observations the instructor lists them on the board. Students will typically say things like, “she paints botanical images,” and “she uses the whole page or canvas.”

After the discussion the instructor picks up all O’Keeffe references and passes out photographs of flowers and other botanical images. (One resource may be gardening catalogs.) Each student is asked to choose one botanical image. After choosing their image the student is asked to draw the image “O’Keeffe style” on their paper.

Here are the guidelines:

• the botanical image MUST touch at least three edges of the page
• draw only one botanical image
• draw the botanical image with exaggeration (as if the image is being looked at through binoculars)
• draw an extreme close-up of the botanical image
• don’t do ANY shading
• students can choose pen or pencil (whatever they feel most comfortable with)

Day #2: Time to glue the lines in the botanical drawing. Draw, with the glue bottle, a thin line of glue, right on top of the already drawn botanical image lines. Draw slowly and turn the paper often, so a hand or arm does not drag into the glue. The instructor will demonstrate this step first so the students will know the correct procedure. This step adds the element of texture to the art work and will be used for keeping the watercolor paint exactly where the student paints it. Once all of the lines are drawn, lay the art work VERY flat on a drying rack for at least 24 hours.

Day #3: Looking again at the chosen photo of a botanical image, add color using colored pencils. The instructor will demonstrate for students how color can be layered and should be very deep and rich. Many students will think they are done WAY before they are, show them how to keep layering many colors so they can blend to make deeper tones.

Day #4: Add watercolor paint right over the top of the colored pencil. This is a good opportunity to introduce the vocabulary word, transparent. Use the same colors in the watercolor that was used with the colored pencils. Add water to color for lighter areas. The glue line really helps the students stay inside their field.

Day #5: Use tempera cakes to paint the background (negative space) around the botanical image. A black background really lets the image stand out, but students can choose their own background color. Let dry.

VOCABULARY:

1. Field - a background area or entire physical plane, often of one color or texture


2. Layering - applying one transparent color, image or element on top of another color, image or element.


3. Negative space - the empty space in an artwork surrounding the image which can also function as design shapes in the piece


4. Tempera cake - tempera is the paint and process involving an emulsion of oil and water with pigment, a tempera cake is the paint in cake form which is simply moistened with a brush and paint as you would with an opaque tempera or watercolor wash


5. Texture - the surface character of a material that can be experienced through touch or the illusion of touch


6. Tone - the value or color character of a surface, determined by the quality of light reflected from it. The amount of light reflected can be determined by the medium that has been applied to the surface. Color variety due to slight changes within the same hue


7. Transparent - a visual quality in which a color, image or element can be seen through another color, image or element on top of it

1. Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes.


2. Students use different materials to communicate ideas and self expression.


3. Working knowledge of structure and function.


4. Students use visual structures to communicate ideas.