1438 Aldersbrook Road London, ON. N6G 3V7 Phone 519 471 4278 [email protected] www.artventure.ca
Title: Self Portrait on a Grid
Objectives: � Art History: The art and style of Paul Klee � Colour Theory: Colour Wheel - Warm/Cool Colours � Elements of Art: Shapes (Organic vs. Geometric) � Perspective & Proportion of a self-portrait
Media: Can be completed with: Black Oil Pastels & Watercolour Paint Water-based pencil crayons Pencil crayons
Steps: 1. Begin with a background introduction to Paul Klee’s large body of work and his unique cubist style. 2. Discuss the difference between a portrait and a full-body illustration of a person. 3. As a family, work on drawing a each other’s portrait - recognizing the organic nature of the human face and paying close attention to size and shape of our head, eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair. 4. Once our partner-portraits are complete, artists will use a ruler and divide their paper into smaller rectangles by creating at least 10 horizontal lines across the page and 10 vertical or diagonal lines from top to bottom of the page. Be sure to draw your lines straight and begin and end at the edge of the paper, crossing right through the portrait. 5. Artists will then use a black oil pastel (or black sharpie) to outline their portrait. An oil pastel outline functions as border when using watercolour as your media. This step will help keep the watercolour within its borders, allowing the portrait to remain separate from your checkered background. 6. Identify warm and cool colours on a colour wheel. To help with colour recognition – a separate activity can be planned on working with a colour wheel. Once the wheel is coloured, artists can fold it in half along the middle line – resulting in Blue, Green, and Purple showcasing our Cool Colours and Red, Orange, Yellow showcasing our Warm Colours. 7. Returning to our self-portrait, each artist can decide whether their portrait will be painted in warm colours and background in cool colours, or whether they wish to paint their portrait in cool colours and background in warm colours. 8. Using watercolour paint and thin paint brushes, artists will begin painting their portrait while staying within their grid. For example: if you chose to paint your portrait with cool colours, each cell within your grid will be painted separately using Blues, Greens, and Purples – ensuring that no two touching cells have the same colour. Repeat this process for the background, staying with your chosen warm or cool colours and using a range of tints and shades for variety. 9. Once the painting is dry - for those whose black outline has been slightly painted over - a final step can be added by outlining the grid once more in black oil-based charcoal, oil pastel, or sharpie to regain the sharpness, division and contrast that might have otherwise lost by the watercolour.
Variation for younger / older artists: Younger artists can work on identifying Primary & Secondary colours – following the same steps using either primary for portrait and secondary for background or vise versa. Older artists can be introduced to Complementary Colours, using one colour along with its tints and shades for the portrait and adding its complementary colour along with its tints and shades for the background.
Variation on Subject with same artist: � Geometric Shaped Cityscape � Cat & Bird
Cross-Subject Connections: Math – Geometric & Organic Shapes Social – All about Me (the human body and facial features) Science – Oil and Water
1438 Aldersbrook Road London, ON. N6G 3V7 Phone 519 471 4278 [email protected] www.artventure.ca
SAMPLES OF WORK CREATED BY ARTVENTURE STUDENTS
1438 Aldersbrook Road
London, ON. N6G 3V7 Phone 519 471 4278 [email protected] www.artventure.ca
SAMPLES OF WORK CREATED BY ARTVENTURE STUDENTS
1438 Aldersbrook Road London, ON. N6G 3V7 Phone 519 471 4278 [email protected] www.artventure.ca
Original Source: Paul Klee
“Senecio”
Variation on Subject with Same Artist - “Cat and Bird” “Rose Garden”