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Art Masterpiece: Poppy, 1927-Georgia O’Keeffe

Art Lesson

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Keywords: Vantage Point, Balance and Shading

Grade: 6th

Lesson: Close-Up Flower-Chalk Activity

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Helpful Hints:

Materials: 12 X 18 white drawing paper

Colored Chalk

Pencils

Pictures of Flowers

Fixative (canned hair spray works)

Activity: We are going to discover that painting a flower close-up requires some careful observation and attention to the smallest detail. The results, however, are beautiful on a large scale! See Attached.

Objectives:

•Students expand their drawing skills to include drawing enlargements.

•Young artists paint a close-up of a flower just like Georgia O’Keeffe.

Vocabulary: Enlargement, Close-up, Positive Space, Color, Shape, Blossom.

Materials: (one per student unless otherwise noted)

•8”x11” sheet of watercolor or heavy weight paper

•scrap paper for practice

•watercolor paints or pencils

•paintbrushes

•water cups or larger containers to share for water

•paper towels for cleaning brushes

•pencils

•fresh or silk flowers

•9x12” bright colored construction paper for mounting

Process:

  1. Look at Georgia O’Keeffe’s flower paintings. Notice how the flowers fill the canvas, with the blossom edges disappearing right off the edges.
  2. Set up work areas with paints, brushes, water trays for thinning paints and rinsing brushes. Paper towels will help with drying brushes between colors.
  3. Set out real or artificial flowers.
  4. Ask students to choose a particular flower and look closely at it. Lightly sketch an enlarged version of the flower onto the paper covering as much of the paper as possible. The edges of the flower should touch or go off the edges. (If students prefer, they can quickly draw a practice flower on the scrap paper).
  5. Paint the drawings with watercolors. Use the watercolors in diluted form, first using pale colors then darker colors. Leave areas of white showing around the petals.
  6. Create details in the flower with the watercolors. Try mixing colors on the paper to create soft edges. *Avoid outlining with dark, thick lines of paint. Try using color to create edges instead of outlining the shapes…A yellow-orange portion of a petal overlapping a light yellow portion of another petal will create that edge without the use of an outline.
  7. Let dry. These look great mounted on bright colored construction paper!!