Painting

To do your first painting, all you will need to paint with is your fingers! You can paint with sand or with finger paint. To make paint mix the following supplies in a pan. Cook over low heat until the mixture is smooth and thick. Let the mixture cool than pore into jars with lids. Add food coloring to create different colors. Keep the lids on between uses. (see a recipe for finger paint below).

½ cup cornstarch

3 Tbsp. sugar

½ tsp. salt

2 cups cold water

food coloring

Whether using sand or finger paint, be sure to prepare your surface for spills. Put down your paper or your board and start moving the paint or sand around. When you have completed your painting, let it dry then hang it up. Try painting with digital brushes next!

A recipe for art!

In this activity, you will need to think of something that cannot be described in a picture. It could be an emotion, it could be a thought, or an expression of a concept, or a simple or a complex idea. Experiment with paint, experiment with color. Abstract Art moves away from realistic painting, exploring alternatives of expression. Look at other artists’ paintings to see how they explore ideas and the world around them. A Russian painter and theorist, Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), is widely considered the pioneer of abstract art. He created the first purely abstract painting around 1910, revolutionizing modern art by exploring color, form, and emotion as spiritual expression. Review this listing of Ten Most Famous Abstract Painters of all Time to see the breadth of artistic exploration. Which ones interest you?

Let your hand and mind go free!

In this activity, you will select an animal, a plant, and a place where people live, work, or play. In composing each painting, block out the geometries of the body parts of the animal, the sections of the plants, and the angles, walls, floors and furniture of the place. These parts do not have to connect, but need to capture the essential energy of the object or experience of the environment. You can even show multiple perspectives at the same time! Look at daily compositions in watercolor by Chicago Architect Philip Enquist! Explore this video about a Georgia O'Keefe Painting: The Purple Leaf.

Energize the space!

In this activity you will paint at three scales: a portrait of a person, a series of arranged objects (still life), and a landscape scene. The objective of these paintings is to develop your skills as an artist to depict accurately what you observe when documenting real people, real scenes and real environments.

First, choose a friend, a person in your family, someone famous, or someone you don’t know. Watch Speed Painting for ideas on how to layout, block and build your portrait. Build Your Portrait. Share your finished painting and get responses from your friends and teachers.

Many painters painted…what was in front of them! Look around. What objects and materials do you have on hand. Experiment with some still lifes. Arrange interesting objects in your classroom or at home. Create a composition from one point of view and copy what you see in your painting.

Finally, expand your horizons! Look out your window from your classroom or your room at home. Using Leonardo’s Window, sketch out what you see. Use your sketch as the base of your painting.

Get real!

Watercolor is a liquid, water-based approach to painting. Watercolor paper is different from canvas. It absorbs water within marked edges. It allows for deeper hues by adding wet aqua color to the wet paper. Watercolor comes in small tablets, tubes, and acrylic paint. It dries quickly and is easy to clean up. Some watercolor paintings take your breath away because they seem like a real view. The Japanese paintings of Oshita Tojiro represent Japanese landscapes, parks, and temples. Roman Architects drafted the different styles of columns throughout Greece and the Mediterranean Islands. Capture what you see. Paint it with watercolors!

• To make color, you need to add pigment to a medium.
  • true
  • false
• Geometric planes and structures are used in ___________painting.
  • realistic
  • cubist
  • abstract
• Impressionist painters tried to capture the quality of light on the canvas.
  • true
  • false
• Realism that looks like a photograph is called photorealism.
  • true
  • false
• Cubism, Impressionism, and Realism are styles only associated with painting.
  • true
  • false