New Perspective

This lesson concludes the Van Gogh perspective series. For this project, students looked at the sunflower from a different perspective - the back.

Every student saw the sunflower from a different perspective depending upon where they sat. To begin, each student created a "viewfinder" with their hands to establish a picture of what they would paint.

Next, they drew the sunflower using green and yellow colored pencils. They paid special attention to creating their personal perspective, taking care to watch angles and use their painters space wisely.

Beginning with the yellow, students painted their flowers.

Many students used their knowledge of paint blending to create a yellow-green color with which to paint their flower's stem and leaves. (see above)

Above is Mrs. Mattern's class proudly displaying their unique perspectives. (Click on any photo to see it larger)

Sunflowers

For this lesson students deconstructed Van Gogh's work to create a painting of a sunflower. The lesson's emphasis centered on the same ideas: color, use of space, perspective, and technique. This week we also focused on texture and dimension.

The steps involved in this project were: Step One: using a yellow colored pencil, sketch the outline of the sunflower beginning with flower's center, followed by the petals and a stem and/or leaf. Step Two: paint the light colored areas first.

Step Three: Using newly learned methods of color blending and mixing, create details and dimension.

Step Four: Paint flower's center taking special care to create a textured look using proper painting techniques.