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Art Masterpiece: Doris Lee
Thanksgiving(1935)
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Keywords: Perspective, Foreground, Background, Pattern
Grade:6th
Lesson: Colored pencil perspective of a room
To display this artwork for the class, go to
Ask the classroom teacher to project this image on a screen.
Meet The Artist:
Doris Lee was born in Illinois in 1905. She moved to Woodstock, New York later in her life. Doris Lee painted typical everyday scenes. Some paintings depict her memories of growing up in the Midwest. Other paintings have scenes of big city industries. After she painted Thanksgiving, Lee was commissioned to paint large murals in the Washington D.C. Post Office Building. She sought to show scenes that were genuinely American.
Questions and Discussion:
What is happening in this painting?
Does it look realistic? Why or why not?
Do some parts of the painting seem closer than others?
What do you see in the background of this painting? What do you see in the foreground?
Which figures look bigger, the ones in the foreground or the ones in the background?
How does the pattern on the floor effect the painting? (It helps to give the room depth.)
Are there colors that seem closer and others that seem to sink to the back of the room? What are they?
Activity: Colored pencil perspective of a room
(Please demonstrate how to do this before passing out the paper. Then walk the whole class through setting up the paper and creating the tile floor. Then each student may add windows, furniture and accessories to their rooms.)
Supplies: (9” X 12”) white paper. 1 per student.
Pencil
Rulers
Erasers
Colored Pencils
Instructions:
(Art Guides: Please try this yourself before teaching. If you follow the instructions, it will turn out.)
Drawing with perspective makes a room look more realistic because the shapes in the foreground look larger than the shapes in the background. Using a vanishing point and a ruler helps you to know how big and how small a shape should be.
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In portrait position (long edges on right and left, short edges on the top and bottom,) use a ruler to measure and mark 2 inches from the top in several places. Line up the ruler along the marks you have made and draw a line 2 inches down from the top of the paper. Repeat this process with the right and left sides of the paper. You will end up with three sides of a box that is centered 2 inches down from the top and 2 inches in from each side. Next measure 4 inches up from the bottom and mark in two or three places. Line up the ruler along the marks you have made and draw a line to create the fourth side of the box.
Next we’ll find the center of the box. Line up the ruler diagonally with the top right corner of the box and the bottom left corner of the box. Mark the middle of that line with the pencil. Then repeat with the other two corners. The two marks you made should cross in the middle of the box. The point where they cross is the “vanishing point” so mark it with a small dot. Erase all lines that are not the box or the vanishing point.
To create the floor, use the ruler to line up the vanishing point and the bottom right corner of the box. Draw a line along the ruler between the edge (on the side) of the paper and the corner of the box. Next use the ruler to line up the vanishing point and the bottom left corner of the box. Draw a line along the ruler between the edge (on the side) of the paper and the corner of the box. You have just created the floor and the back wall of your room!
To create tiles on the floor, use the ruler to mark the middle of the bottom edge of your paper (9” divided by 2 is 4.5” so mark 4.5 “ from one of the bottom corners of the paper.) Using the ruler, connect that point with the vanishing point. Draw a line along the ruler between the edge (on the bottom) of the paper and the bottom of the box (or back wall.) Measure 2 inches to the right of the middle mark on the bottom edge of the page. Mark that point. Measure 2 inches to the left of the middle mark on the bottom edge of the page. Mark that point. Using the ruler, connect the new points with the vanishing point and draw lines along the ruler between the edge (on the bottom) of the paper and the bottom of the box (or back wall.) Measure and mark another 2 inches outside these new lines along the bottom edge of paper. Using the ruler, connect the new points with the vanishing point and draw lines along the ruler between the edge (on the bottom) of the paper and the bottom of the box (or back wall.)
To finish the tiles with perspective, the tiles in the foreground need to be larger than the tiles closer to the back wall. First we’ll mark and draw a line 1.5” up from the bottom of the paper. Then we’ll measure 1 inch up from the first line and mark and draw a line parallel to the bottom of the paper. Then we’ll measure and draw a third line ¾’’ above the second line. Finally, we’ll measure and draw a fourth line ½” above the third line.
To create the ceiling and side walls, use a ruler to connect the upper right corner of the back wall and the vanishing point. Draw a line along the ruler between the edge (on the top) of the paper and the corner of the back wall. Next, use the ruler to line up the vanishing point and the top left corner of the back wall. Draw a line along the ruler between the edge (on the top) of the paper and the corner of the backwall. You have just created the ceiling and the side walls.
Erase any guidelines and then color the tiles with colored pencils.
To make windows on the side walls, draw two lines parallel to the side of the paper. Using a ruler, connect a the top of the “closest” line to the vanishing point. Draw a line along the ruler to create the top of the window. Then, using a ruler, connect a the bottom of the “closest” line to the vanishing point. Draw a line along the ruler to create the bottom of the window.
To make a bed along the side of the room, draw a rectangle on the bottom corner of the back wall. This rectangle represents where the “head” of the bead touches the back wall. Using a ruler, connect a top corner of the rectangle to the vanishing point. Draw a line, starting at the rectangle’s corner and coming towards you at the edge of the paper. Repeat with the other corners of the rectangle. Erase the markings for the tile below the bed. Decorate the bed with pillows and bedspread.