Lesson #6: Rethinking a Painting

Part of the unit: Painting a Neighborhood Scene |

Goals

Aim: 
Why is it important to revisit our paintings?
Students will be able to:
Make changes to improve and complete their paintings
Students will understand that:
Artists continually reconsider their work and make changes.
Materials

Red, yellow, blue, black and white tempera paint

Brushes, water cans, sponges, student paintings from lesson 5

Resources

List of details prepared for homework

Motivation: 

Explain that there are many similaries between writers and artists.  Think about the process of writing a composition.

  •  What steps lead to a final draft in writing?  (chart responses)
  •  What steps lead to a finished painting?  (chart responses)
  • What similarities are there between completing a piece of writing for publication and finishing a painting?

Explain that artists continually reconsider their work and make changes, just as writers do.  Today will be the last day to work on these paintings and to make revisions.

  • What are some changes that you could make at this stage?
Demonstration: 

Ask a student to share their work with the class and to explain:

  • what changes he/she plans to make today to finish his/her painting.
  • what he/she has learned about this block from making this painting

Look at your own work and think about the following questions: 

  • How does your painting create a sense of place? 
  • What would a viewer learn about this block from your painting?

Students will reconsider their work and make changes to complete their paintings. 

Display finishing paintings. 

Each student should be assigned a painting that is not their own to write about.  Direct the students to write a paragraph for each of the following questions in a constructive and positive way:

  • What have you learned about this block from this painting?
  • How has the student artist created a sense of place?
  • With whom would you like to visit this place?  What would you do here?

Students should receive the paragraph written about their work at the end of the class. 

 

In collaboration with the classroom teacher, these paintings can be displayed and used as the focus of a writing assignment in which the students address their own work.  Students can write about why they selected this block to depict, the aesthetic decisions they made, and the mood they tried to express in their work. Refer to the interview you did for homework previously, and include a description of how this block has changed over time.