Lee Middle School Art Site
Unit: Movement, Unity, Harmony
Project: PASTEL LANDSCAPES
Learning Objectives:
Students will...
The student will learn techniques for creating the illusion of space in a pastel landscape utilizing atmospheric perspective. Harmony and unity can be addressed in this lesson as well in respect to applying harmonious colors and values through the picture plane.
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Students will use soft and/or hard pastels to create a pastel landscape drawing of place with some personal significance to themselves
Materials:
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18" by 24" Gray or toned drawing paper
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Soft Pastels / Hard Pastels
Directions:
The teacher will begin the lesson by leading the students in experimentation with soft pastels. Some techniques that could be covered including blending, scumbling, and feathering. The teacher will then present the introduction video and presentation on drawing a landscape using pastels in order to create the illusion of space through atmospheric perspective. The teacher may also address harmony and unity and how it can created by using the same "set of colors" or family of colors to communicate the landscape.
Vocabulary:
Soft pastels - Usually in stick form, soft pastels consists of powdered pigment held together by a binder. Soft pastels are sometimes called "chalk" pastels.
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Hard pastels - Hard pastels typically contain a higher ratio of binder to powdered pigment. This makes hard pastels perfect for details and sharp marks, although they can be used for complete drawings as well.
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Atmospheric perspective - A drawing and painting device in which objects that further away are drawn or painted using lighter values and cooler tones. The result is the illusion of space in an image.
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Harmony - Harmony is a principle of art that deals with similarities in an artwork. Harmony can be created in an artwork by using similar textures, marks, and colors throughout an artwork in order to create a feeling of "completeness" and unity.
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Unity - Unity is a principle of art that deals with the feeling of "oneness" in an artwork. Unity in an artwork connects different aspects of the same image together into a cohesive work.