Post –course Support Course ID: ECP020120030 Event ID: AB Date: 10 – 14 /6/2013 Chan Wai Yin, Doris (Baptist Lui Ming Choi Secondary School)

Lesson Plan: Introduction to Landscape Painting Grades: Form 1 Duration: 1 double periods 1. know what a landscape is Learning Objectives: Students will: My suggestion is that you guide the SS to view the paintings by asking certain 1. know what is landscape painting questions. From the answers to those 2. compare foreground, mid-ground and background in landscape painting questions, you will end up with the 3. explore art techniques such as scale and overlapping to create the illusion of distance. definition of a landscape. In Points 2 and 4. observe and discuss types of horizon lines as an important element in landscape painting. 4, you seem to be telling them afterwards, whereas your questions should be guiding them to see it the way Procedures you want them to. So, for example, you 1. Showing students the following images, ask them to look at them carefully. Ask students to describe what is in the artworks. could jointly with the students ask these kinds of questions: “All of these paintings here are the same kind of painting. Tell me what these three have in common - what is the same about them?” They should say that they all show the sky and they all have trees. If they cannot give you any more, then tell them that 2 have people but are the people important in the painting.

How do we know they are not important? (size) Then contrast the 3 paintings and ask what one has that the other(s) ; Yellow Wheat Field ; Flower Bed Vincent Van Gogh; Starry Night over the doesn’t/don’t have. For ex, water is not with Cypress Rhône important because it is not in all three 2. Tell students that these are landscape painting. (Write “landscape painting” on the blackboard.) and people are nit important because even though they are in 2 of them, they 3. Help students to define “landscape” based on what they see in these images. are very small. Man-made landscapes 4. Tell students “Landscapes are works of art that depict scenes of nature: mountains, fields, gardens, rivers, flower bed, tree, etc. and natural landscapes are both The main subject is a wide view.” (Write the definition on the blackboard.) possible. So wheat fields and flower beds 5. Show students the following images them to look at them carefully. Ask students to pick out the landscape painting and give and street lights combine with the natural elements. and, importantly that reasons. they do not zoom in on the scene - they take a wide-angle perspective. All of these things are part of a type of painting called land+wide view, ie landscape. OK. Now they should be able to easily tell you why.

Vincent Van Gogh; The room of Vincent Vincent Van Gogh; Sunflowers Vincent Van Gogh; Olive grove with in , white cloud

6. Tell students that “Olive grove with white cloud “is a landscape painting. Emphasize to students that “Landscapes are works of art that depict scenes of nature. The main subject is a wide view.” Point 6 should not be necessary now 7. Show students the following image .Discuss the composition of the paintings. unless you want to give them a definiition. Why are you using “depict” in Form 1? Why not use “show” or “illustrate” or simply, “Landscapes are about scenes of nature and they are seen from a wide view”.

Why are you looking at starry night? if it is a landscape, ask them to tell you why. Then you can say that you need to look at how landscape paintings are Van Gogh; Starry Night organised or how they are composed. (Try to find an easier word - a word they Show the following image by the side of “Starry Night” to students so that they can see the layout of the painting’s shapes. Draw have learnt before (organised) and can 8. then understand the specialised term division lines to provide a visual separation of the foreground, mid-ground, and background. (composed). Do you want to use mid-ground? I would’ve have thought “middle ground” would be easier but … The background

I think having the line drawing adjacent tot he painting is good.

the mid-ground

The foreground

9. Tell students that Can the SS have a worksheet where they i. Background: the most distant elements of a scene are writing down the various things ii. Foreground: the closest elements of a scene about the paintings, eg sky, trees etc, iii. Mid-ground: the area between the foreground and background then the definition of landscapes, then (Write “Background”,” Foreground”,” Mid-ground” on the blackboard.) the structure or composition of the paintings. In that way, they are actively 10. Show the following images once again. Discuss the use of different sizes and shapes in landscape composition. “How do objects engaged in the language of the lesson, and figures appear differently to the viewer when they are closer or farther in the distance?” both orally and in writing. And by working with the paintings, they are “closer” to them, too. Good. Using the same paintings is a great idea and now you can take up this question of the figures much more confidently because they have already been mentioned in the first part of the lesson.

Vincent Van Gogh; Starry Night Vincent Van Gogh; Flower Bed Vincent Van Gogh; Starry Night over the Rhône

11. Tell students that the artist creates the illusion of depth and distance by the following ways. i. Overlapping various elements within the composition so that some are forced forward or backward in the scene. ii. Using less detail, texture, and description when painting objects in the mid-ground and background of the landscape. iii. As objects or figures recede in the distance, paint them at a much smaller scale than those in the foreground. (Write the main points on the blackboard.) Yes, on the board and, if they have a 12. Show the following images. Ask students, “How does the artist create the illusion of depth and distance in his artworks?” worksheet, they should write down the points BUT you have to simplify the language - it is too difcult for Form 1 SS. For example, why not say simply: “overlapping elements to move them forward or back”, “using more detail in the foreground”, “drawing figures and shapes in the foreground larger”.

This point needs to be made earlier, eg Vincent Van Gogh; Vegetable Gardens in Vincent Van Gogh; Landscape with House Vincent Van Gogh; The Old Mill Montmartre and Ploughman in Step 11 and even before when talking about foreground, middle ground and 13. Emphasize the main points again. Tell students, “When making a landscape painting, it is important to create the illusion of depth background. and distance. Otherwise, the painting might seem flat.” This last point 14(b) is not in correct 14. Drawing activity 1 - students draw quick sketches from the landscape photos they have prepared. Tell students to keep the question format. If you begin the following ideas in mind while they are sketching: sentence with how, then it needs to be a. What is a landscape? like this: “How is … created?” “How does … look …?” You cannot ask “How to b. How to create the illusion of depth and distance in the sketches.? create…?” or “How to do?” 15. Show students’ sketches to the class .Discuss the use of different sizes and shapes in their compositions. I hoep the SS are doing the talking here 16. Show the following images to the class. Tell students, “The horizon line is the line where the land or sea 'appears' to meet the sky.” - they should now have the language to (Write “Horizon Line” on the blackboard.) do it.

Why is the horizon line done so late in the lesson - why not do it at the same time as the composition? It is not difcult. Also, why are you bringing in Horizon line seascapes now - I would stay with landscapes unless you mention in the early part of the lesson that you are looking at landscapes although there are two kinds of scapes - land- and seascapes. Vincent Van Gogh; Landscape under a Vincent Van Gogh; The Sea at Les Saintes- Stormy Sky Maries-de-la-Mer 17. Show the following images to the class. Discuss types of horizon lines and their influences on the compositions.

Vincent Van Gogh; Vegetable Gardens in Vincent Van Gogh; Yellow Wheat Field Vincent Van Gogh; Landscape under a Montmartre with Cypress Stormy Sky 18. Show the following table to the class:

- Stresses importance of foreground & mid-ground High horizon - Shows viewer is looking down from a higher level.

- Emphasizes distance, sky ... - Shows viewer is at ground level Low horizon

The horizon line is either too high or - The overall effect of the painting can too low. feel uncomfortable to the viewer.

19. Remind students, “No need to stick firmly to the 'Rules', but try to have enough space both above and below the horizon line to Also, this command is not worded make a good-looking arrangement of space.” correctly according to English. It should 20. Homework: Students will sketch 6 different objects or figures in a landscape setting. be: “There is no need to stick to the ‘rules’…” or more simply: “Don’t always stick to the ‘rules’.”