Art Masterpiece: Woman With Umbrella, 1875 by

Pronounced: Klodd Moe-Nay Keywords: Abstract, complementary colors, , “en plein air” (outside) Abstract - Characteristic of art in which objects are not rendered in a naturalistic or representational way, but instead, are simplified or distorted to some extent, often in an attempt to con- vey the essence of form. Impressionism - An art style of the late nineteenth century, principally in France, in which artist tried to capture in paint the fleeting effects of light, shade and color in natural forms. en plein air: Out-of-doors or open air . Activity: Impressionist Pastel Drawing

Meet the Artist: (5 min) (consider using powerpoint for meet the artist) • He was born in 1840 in Paris, France. His parents wanted him to grow up and work in their grocery store. He only wanted to paint, and eventually went to art school.

Property of Knox Art Masterpiece Revised 7/31/13 • He was fascinated with what different light would do to colors. He noticed that the brighter the light, the more vibrant the color. He started to paint outdoors “en plein air” so that he could really see the vibrancy of the colors. At the time, artists always painted inside, in their studios. • He married twice (his first wife died) and had several children. • Most of his life, he lived in poverty. • It took him until he was 50 years old, to sell enough to buy his first home. • The house he that bought was in Giverny (Zhee-vare-ney). • He started going blind in 1908 due to cataracts. After receiving medication, he was able to regain much of his sight. • Some of his most memorable paintings were painted at the end of his life, his wa- ter lily paintings. They actually started to border on . • He died of lung cancer in 1926.

Discussion: (10min)  Ask the students to describe the a scene depicted in the picture.  What time of day has Monet illustrated here?  Who do you think this woman is? (His wife Camille)  Is this painting realistic? Does it look real?  Why do you think Monet liked to paint outside?  Often, he painted the same thing over and over again. Why do you think he did that? (Different lighting, time of day, different seasons’ colors)  What does the painting look like close up? Far away?  Can you tell the technique used to paint this painting? (short brush strokes)  Do you like this kind of art? Why or why not?

Project: Plein-Air figure drawing

Supplies Needed: Oil Pastels (class set) Light Blue Construction Paper (9”x12”) 12x18” white construction paper for mounting (trimmed to 11x14”) Clipboards pencils Fixative (Hair Spray) White dress

Property of Knox Art Masterpiece Revised 7/31/13 umbrella Live model Basic Shape Figure Drawing handout (not to be take home-please reuse) 6-8 bottles of glue parent letter

Advanced Prep: Trim White construction paper to 11x14” Copy and cut parent letter

Mini Lesson: (5-10 min) Please refer to the photos below for guidelines in simple figure drawing using shapes. (Students will have this handout when doing their own figure drawing.) Using either the whiteboard, or the dot cam, quickly demonstrate using basic shapes to draw a figure. Emphasize that the figure should be large and take up lots of the paper. You should also review the concept of sketching, as students will be doing lots of erasing.

Process: (30 min)  For this project, one of the volunteers dresses up in a long flowing dress and models for the students outside holding an umbrella. If you can, stand on a hill or surround yourself with trees.  Arrange the students in a large half circle around the model. Give them light blue construction paper, pencils, and basic figure drawing using shapes handout. Have the students sketch the live model using basic shapes. Explain to the students that the details, such as facial expressions, or jewelry does not matter and to just LIGHTLY sketch in the figure, dress and umbrella. It actually works better if they try not to add the facial features all together. Reinforce that the woman should take up a good amount of the usable space on the paper. You will need to keep reminding them to SKETCH lightly.  When their sketch is complete give them the oil pastels. They can use pastels to trace their figure, but should try to use the pastels to fill in the figure using short strokes put closely next to one another like Monet did with his brushstrokes. They can then create a background that brings in nature with the oil pastels. Using short strokes with the oil pastels, they can incorporate clouds in the sky since the white pastels will show on the light blue paper. Talk about catching just one moment in their work.

Property of Knox Art Masterpiece Revised 7/31/13  Glue the parent letter to the back, then mount the and sign the finished masterpiece.  Spray with fixative (hairspray) to set the oil pastels.

Property of Knox Art Masterpiece Revised 7/31/13 1. SKETCHING LIGHTLY start with basic 2. SKETCHING LIGHTLY Add stick arms, a shapes, circle for the head, small rectangle for the rectangle waistband, and erase where triangles neck, upside down triangle for the torso and an overlap. overlapping triangle for the dress.

3. SKETCHING LIGHTLY Draw ovals around 4. Erase stick arms. Add a flat oval for the hat the sections of the stick arms and add circles for brim and a semi circle for the crown of the hat. hands. Draw the umbrella as a semi circle that Round out all the sharp angles on the torso. passes behind the head. Scallop umbrella edge. Do one more check to erase unnecessary sketched lines.

Property of Knox Art Masterpiece Revised 7/31/13

5. Use oil pastels to trace outline and fill in the 6. Add background details using short strokes. figure with short strokes like Monet did. Notice how the grass meets the sky 2/3 of the way down on the paper? This makes the figure look like she is standing in the grass. You can also use different shades of color to add “light” such as two colors of green for the tree leaves.

Property of Knox Art Masterpiece Revised 7/31/13