Current Lesson - Still Life Paintings
The current lesson takes a look at still life paintings. It introduces the
work of two famous artists: Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cezanne. One of the
projects, "Give a Hoot for a Bowl of Fruit", shows how to use
basic tricks for creating perspective in a picture. The idea is to place
items that are in the front of the picture lower on the page
and overlapped on top of of items that are placed towards the back
of the picture.
Previous Lesson - Landscape Paintings
This lesson takes a look at landscape painting. It introduces one of the
basic tricks for making a picture look as if it has depth. It's called "linear
perspective". It's a simple idea - objects appear smaller as they get
further away from the viewer. Before starting this project, take you're
children on a visual field trip. All you have to do is look out your window
into the distance. You will be able to see that buildings, trees, and even
people look large if they are close to your window, and seem to shrink when
they are across the street. Artists use this trick when they draw a scene.
Here are a few other ways to show perspective:
Overlapping - to show that one object is in front of another, overlap it, and place it a bit lower on the page.
Aerial Perspective - in a landscape, objects appear lighter in color,
and fuzzier in shape, as they get further away.
Art projects
Shrinking Trees
This is a basic exercise for showing perspective. The tree which is
closer to the viewer is drawn larger.
If you have very young children and are using Kid Pix®, try using the tree stamp. Make the tree towards the front of the picture larger by holding down the "Shift" key while clicking the stamp onto the page. Make a game of it by using other stamps. You and your young artist can work together filling the landscape with ducks, dinosaurs, anything you'd like. (On Macintosh, hold down the "Option" and "Option + Shift" keys for additional size options.)
A Moo-ving Masterpiece
Add a few cows to the landscape you drew in the previous (Shrinking Trees)
project. Make it into a movable masterpiece. One of the cows becomes a puppet,
it can slide along the hillside and eat grass.
Computers in the Classroom
My goal as a computer art teacher is to show that the PC is one of many
tools for creativity. The projects that I will bring to you combine the
use of computer technology with traditional art tools such as crayons, color
markers, glue and scissors. Many of the projects are from my two books;
"Kids' Computer Creations", and "Crayons and Computers". I hope you will be able
to include my ideas into your home or school curriculum. Each lesson will
feature a new subject, with new projects. I also include three basic lessons
about color. Craft projects accompany these lessons too. These basic concepts
will always be available. If you'd like to see previous art lessons, click here.
Where are the lessons from past months?
Because so many of you have sent e-mail requesting past lessons, I've created
a new web site. After a lesson is finished, I'll place it at this new site.
Thanks for all your comments! I'd love to hear from all of you. You can
find this new site at: http://Members.aol.com/Art1234567/Art.html
Share Your Ideas
Let me know how this project worked for you. I'd really like your feedback.
Perhaps you'll have ideas to share with other teachers and parents. Please
send your comments or ideas to my E-mail address. You may contact me at:
Sabbeth@aol.com
If you'd like to send something by snail mail:
Crayons and Computers / 3850 Rio Road #79 / Carmel, CA 93923.