Gabriel and Ramon John Sonsini		Kilauea Caldera, Sandwich Islands Jules Tavernier		Mountains and Birches of Utah Harry Sternberg
Explore Art page (kid-friendly)				Explore Art page (kid-friendly)
Improvisation Konrad Cramer

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• Print the above images onto overhead transparencies.

• Create a blank color wheel (pencil lines, but no paint) to use as an example.

• Create two blank value scales (PDF 28KB) (pencil lines, but no paint) to use as an example.

• Cover all of the tables with newspaper or butcher paper.

• Have all painting palettes set up for use. Each painter should have one tray, one brush, one sponge, one water bowl and five containers of paint: red, yellow, blue, black and white. Stacked white paper for painting should be available for use. Set aside place for paintings to dry.

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1. Begin a discussion with the students about color: Who can name the primary colors? Why are they called primary? What happens when you mix the primary colors together? What are these new colors called? Why are they called secondary colors? Imagine you are looking inside a box of crayons. How many different color greens can you find? What are their names? How do you think these colors are made? Which colors feel warm when you look at them? Which colors feel cool when you look at them? Have the students spend the next minute, working with a partner, finding all of the primary colors in the classroom.

2. Show the students the transparency images. Use the following questions to guide the discussion about the images:

• What primary colors do you see in this painting? What secondary colors do you see?
• Does this painting have more warm colors or cool colors?
• How many different color reds (or another color) do you see in this painting? What names would you give to each of these reds (or different color)?
• What feelings or emotions do you think the artist was trying to get across?
• What kind of feelings do you feel when you look at this painting?

3. Explain the objectives of the lesson: to create a color wheel using only primary colors and create a value scale changing a color to a darker and lighter hue.

4. Introduce painting procedures:

• Introduce the tools that are used for painting (the brush, paint, sponge, and palette).
• Explain that when you want to change colors, you should wash out your brush in water by swishing the bristles against the bottom of the water container. Lightly squeeze the bristles against the side of the container, and then dab the brush against the sponge to further dry it. When using tempera, you don’t want the colors to be watery.

5. Hand out the materials to the students (paintbrushes, paint in bowls, palettes, water bowls, sponges, paper, color wheel)

6. Guide the students through the exercise of creating a color wheel:

• First begin by painting the primary colors (red, yellow and blue) into alternating spaces around the wheel, leaving one space between each primary color.
• Show how to mix colors, using the paper plate as a palette. Pick up some red paint on the brush and place it on a blank spot of the palette. Then, pick up some yellow paint and add it to the red to create a secondary color. Paint that secondary color (orange) in between the red and the yellow on the color wheel. Repeat this step for the other two secondary colors (green and violet)

7. Once the color wheel is finished it can serve as a visual aide for remembering how to mix colors.

8. Now hand out the value charts.

9. Guide the students through the exercise of creating tints and shades:

• Mixing white into a color makes that color lighter. Mixing black in that color makes the color darker.
• On the TINTS VALUE SCALE worksheet, paint a primary color in the far right box. Paint the far left box white.
• Using the palette, mix a very small amount of white into the primary color to make a tint of that primary color. Place that color in the box next to the primary color. Slowly add more white to the primary color, creating several values (tints) of that color, and paint them in the boxes between the white box and the box with the primary color. The value scale should gradually turn from white into a primary color.
• On the SHADES VALUE SCALE worksheet paint a primary color in the far left box. Paint the far right box black.
• Using the palette, mix a very small amount of black into the primary color to make a darker shade of that color. Place that color in the box next to the primary color. Slowly add more black to the primary color, creating several values (shades) of that color, and paint them in the boxes between the primary color and the black box. The value scale should gradually turn from the primary color into black.

10. Debrief with the students by having a small discussion about what they observed and discovered while creating their color charts and value scales. This can be followed up with one or more writing projects:
• Describe how different shades of colors are made.
• Write a letter to the Crayola Crayon Company sharing one of the colors you discovered while creating your value scales. Decide on a name for your new color and persuade the company to add this color to their newly updated box of crayons.
• Choose one of the images above and write a poem describing the mood of the painting, based on its use of warm and cool colors.
• Choose one of the landscapes listed above, or another painting of a landscape, and pretend that you have physically entered that landscape. Write a paragraph or two about what you see, using all of your five senses.

Extensions
• Visual Arts: As a culminating project, have the students create self-portraits using only one primary color and varying tints and shades of that color. Have the students write a poem expressing the mood of their portraits.
• Visual Arts: When making secondary colors, show the students different kinds of secondary colors. Mixing an equal amount of two of the primary colors together produces a secondary color, but you can also add more of one than the other to produce colors like orange-red, and blue-green. You can use these colors to make a more complex color wheel for older or more advanced students.
• Visual Arts: Using photocopies of the images listed above, have the students examine the colors that they see. In small groups, ask them to identify and attempt to replicate the colors found in these works, using only primary and neutral colors.

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• Painting takes time, patience, and practice, but it is tremendously rewarding for both students and teachers. Painting is very different than drawing. Drawing is using lines to make a picture. When you paint, you push the paint into the shape you want. In painting, you can’t make a mistake. You can always cover it up with something else when it dries!
• If you don’t have a sink in the classroom, have one large bucket available for students to dump ‘dirty’ water and a second bucket of water for students to refill their bowls.
• Remind students to keep their brushes and their containers of colors clean.
• For clean up, collect casters in a bucket, boil water in an electric kettle, and pour water over casters to let soak in the hot water. If you will paint again in the next few days, you can cover the top of the casters with plastic wrap, and use again.
• Mixing the three primaries together will make brown. Students will often ‘discover’ this and want to share with the class.
• Time to reflect and share out at the end of the period is a good way to reinforce concepts and results.

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Modifications for Kindergarten through Second Grade
Start this lesson with a story about color (see examples in the bibliography).

• All of the discussion questions are appropriate for these grade levels as well.
• Divide this one-session lesson into three separate lessons. Spend extra time guiding the students through the procedures and painting techniques.
• Draw the color wheel and two value scales onto sheets of white paper for each student. Then the students can fill in each template with paint.
• As a culminating project, write a shared poem or shared writing describing one of the pieces of artwork listed above.
• Students can also write journal entries explaining what they saw in the paintings.

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CA Content Standards
Third Grade Visual Arts
1.2 Describe how artists use tints and shades in painting.
1.5 Identify and describe elements of art in works of art, emphasizing line, color, shape/form, texture, space, and value.
2.2 Mix and apply tempera paints to create tints, shades, and neutral colors.
4.1 Compare and contrast selected works of art and describe them, using appropriate vocabulary of art.
5.2 Write a poem or story inspired by their own works of art.

Fourth Grade Visual Arts
1.3 Identify pairs of complementary colors (e.g., yellow/violet; red/green; orange/blue) and discuss how artists use them to communicate an idea or mood.
1.5 Describe and analyze the elements of art (e.g., color, shape/form, line, texture, space, value), emphasizing form, as they are used in works of art and found in the environment.
2.7 Use contrast (light and dark) expressively in an original work of art.

Fifth Grade Visual Arts
1.3 Use their knowledge of all the elements of art to describe similarities and differences in works of art and in the environment.
2.7 Communicate values, opinions, or personal insights through an original work of art.

Third Grade English-Language Arts
2.2 Write descriptions that use concrete sensory details to present and support unified impressions of people, places, things, or experiences.
2.3 Write personal and formal letters, thank-you notes, and invitations.

Fourth Grade English-Language Arts
2.4 Write summaries that contain the main ideas of the reading selection and the most significant details.

Fifth Grade English-Language Arts
2.4 Write persuasive letters or compositions.

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Teachers
Paul, Tony. How to Mix and Use Color: the artist’s guide to achieving the perfect color. Cincinnati, OH: North Light Books, 2003.

Smith, Nancy, et al. Experience and Art: Teaching Children to Paint. Teachers College Press, 1993.

Zelanski, Paul. Color. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003.

Art Basics, San Diego State University
The seven formal elements of art are described on this Web site.

A Guide to Building Visual Arts Lessons, the J. Paul Getty Museum
This comprehensive Web site includes definitions and examples of art elements, as well as a grade-by-grade guide to creating lessons for the classroom. It also includes several CA-standards aligned lesson plans for each grade level that focus on the elements of art.

Foundations in Art, University of Delaware
An introduction to the elements of art that includes images of artwork and concise explanations.

Learning to Look at Art
Learn about the elements of art by looking at famous pieces of artwork. This Web site provides background information on the piece of artwork and descriptions of how each piece is an example of an art element (line, color, texture, shape, form, space, and value.) It also includes interactive and printable activities for students.


Students
Baxter, Nicola. Amazing Colors. Chicago, IL: Children’s Press, 1996.

Cole, Alison. Color. London; New York: Doring Kindersley, 1993.

Court, Rob. Color. Chanhassan, MN: The Child’s World, 2003.

Ehlert, Lois. Planting a Rainbow. San Diego, CA: Harcourt, Inc., 2003.

Gogh, Vincent van. Vincent’s Colors. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005.

Henry, Sandi. Using Color in your Art!: choosing colors for impact and pizzazz. Nashville, TN: Williamson Books, 2005.

Richardson, Joy. Using Color in Art. Milwaukee: Gareth Stevens, 2000.

Rodrigue, George. Why is Blue Dog Blue?: a tale of colors. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2001.

Waters, Elizabeth. Painting: A Young Artist’s Guide. London; New York: Doring Kindersley, 1993.

Westray, Kathleen. A Color Sampler. New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1993.

The Artist’s Toolkit: Visual Elements and Principles
Students can “Explore the Toolkit” to learn about and interact with the elements of art and create their own artwork.

Colorworm Explains Color
An interactive student Web site that teaches about the visible spectrum, the color wheel, and the painter’s palette.

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