I tried this lesson using Van Gogh's artwork,"A Fishing Boat At Sea".I tried this lesson 2 different ways for all 3 of my Art Clubs and my 5th grade class. They are all painted with black tempura (each student got 2 different sized round brushes).
Trial #1 was coloring the boats in with oil pastels, and method #2 integrated shape by having the students add paper cut boats.
This was a fantastic lesson to learn about line: the weight (thickness) of line, how the weight/thickness of line may depend on the depth and perspective of a landscape, and finally, how line can be painted to describe the motion/energy of a subject matter.
We talked about how the ocean's waves are much more apparent when up close by the beach - you can see the crests of the waves, the splashing as they crash. These waves would be painted with a heavy weighted line. And we imagined how the waves look far out into the sea, far away from you, how they appear to be flat, but still have movement. These lines we concluded would be painted with light weighted line, using the smaller brush.
Another added concept learned in this lesson was shape, and how the size of shapes will change in a perspective/landscape. In this case, students learned that the boats would be very small as they sit on the horizon, and bigger as they get closer to the bottom edge of the paper. I told them to imagine themselves on the beach lpooking out at the boats.
Scroll down to see how each classes paintings turned out. Really great work - I would absolutely repeat this lesson or recommend it.
Bubb Art Club
Castro Art Club
