Looking at the work of an artist

Introduction/Stimulus : A brief profile of the artist Piet Mondrian was a Dutch painter who was born in 1872. At one time, Mondrian painted realistic portraits and landscapes, but as he aged and painted more and more, his style began to change. He started to create abstract images... much like the Mondrian-style painting you can see here How did he come to paint this way? Well, the more Mondrian looked at trees, buildings and vases, the more he saw their basic shapes and colours. You can try this too... just squint your eyes while you are looking at something and all the details will start to disappear. You will see only shapes and color... no real objects. This is what Mondrian did.

Eventually, Mondrian's style consisted of geometric shapes and primary colours. After all, every shape can be created from the basic geometric shapes and every colour and tone can be created from the primary colours - red, yellow and blue. You can find lots of other images of Mondrian’s work at http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/jun/04/piet-mondrian-art- pictures-paintings Choose some images and ask yourself the following questions  does the image remind me of something in the real world?  what do you image Mondrian was thinking of when he painted the image?  did Mondrian have to mix any colour to create this image? Learning Objectives/Outcomes

The child will be enabled to

 Develop an increasing understanding of the elements of art, in particular line, shape, colour and tone  Develop his/her art skills and practice painting techniques

 Engage in the process of making paintings

 Look at and respond to his/her own art work and to the work of Mondrian.

Responding: Art Activity Working in the style of the artist.

What you need to create your own Mondrian style picture  A piece of heavy paper or poster board or even wood or canvas (if you are using wood or canvas prime it with gesso or emulsion paint before beginning)  Paint -- red, yellow, blue, black & white (use tempera, poster paints or acrylics ... whichever you have on hand).  Paintbrushes, water, containers etc.  A straight edge  Pencils  Black magic markers  Examples of Mondrian's work or Mondrian style paintings like the ones on this page. **You could use wax crayons, oil pastels or markers instead... you don't have to make a painting - you can make a Mondrian style drawing. How to work 1. First draw your lines on the paper using your straight edge. You can put your lines anywhere you want but here is a general guide: *divide your paper up by drawing draw six horizontal lines from one end of the paper to the other ______*next draw four vertical lines |||| again, make sure your lines go from one end of your paper to the other. *remove some of the lines so that you have square or rectangular shapes of various sizes 2. When you have a set of lines and shapes that appeal to your lines, use either black paint or a black marker to darken them up. Make some lines thick and some lines thin. 3. Now you should have a grid with lots of empty spaces. 4. Choose just a few spaces to fill in with the primary colours - red, yellow and blue 5. Don't overdo the color ... leave some white spaces (just as Mondrian himself did. The key is to keep it simple. 6. That's all there is to it! Evaluating/Further Exploration/Assessment

Evaluating your teaching

Did the lesson

 Provide the students with opportunities to develop an increasing understanding of the elements of art?

 Include art activities that helped to develop the students’ art skills and to practice art techniques, particularly painting techniques?

 Ensure that the art making involved was process oriented?

 Include opportunities for the students to look at and respond to their own art work and to the work of Mondrian?

A further art making task Using Mondrian’s style to explore tone

Take the same approach, but instead of using all the primary colours, choose one colour and mix this with black and white paints to create tones of the one colour. The above image was created using red, black and white to create a variety of red tones.

Assessing the art products

Look at each student’s work to decide  Does the art piece demonstrate that the student has experimented with the elements of art?

 Does the art piece demonstrate good art skills and the appropriate use of art techniques?

 Does the art piece show that the child has worked confidently with his/her own ideas and worked as the designer of the work?

 Can the student discuss his/her own art work with confidence?