Learning objective
- To create a water effect with line
National curriculum
Pupils should be taught:
- To develop a wide range of art and design techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space, to use drawing to develop and share their ideas, experiences and imagination
- Evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft and design
Success criteria
- I can draw lines to look like water
- I can use a variety of different materials to make different types of marks
- I can add plants and creatures to bring art to life
- I can work collaboratively on one large piece of art
- I know that there are many different ways of drawing lines, and that they feel different to make, and that they look different
Cross-curricular links
Music
- listen with concentration and understanding to a range of high-quality live and recorded
Before the lesson
Note
This lesson is inspired by the artists Vija CelminsVija Celmins was born in Latvia. She has lived and worked in the USA since 1948 when she arrived aged ten as a refugee with her family. She is known as a photorealist, as her paintings and drawings are of natural environments and phenomena such as the sea, constellations, rocks, and spider webs. Early in her career, the artists… and David Hockney David Hockney is a British artist who has worked since the 1960s. His early work was part of the Pop art movement. His artwork includes painting, printmaking, digital, design, video/film, the iPhone, and photography, portraiture, landscapes, and his famous swimming pool series. He has been influenced by the artists Piero della Francesca, Pablo Picasso, Jean Dubuffet and Henri Matisse. ….
Watch
- Teacher video: Making waves
- Pupil video: Making waves
Have ready
- Music on the theme of water e.g. Claude Debussy’s ‘La Mer’
- Link: ‘Tate – Vija Celmins, ‘Ocean’, 1975′
- Link: ‘Tate – David Hockney, ‘A Bigger Splash’, 1967′
- A roll of white paper or lining paper
- Masking tape to secure the paper to a row of tables
- A range of materials: HB pencils and softer pencils (2B or 3B), coloured pencils, chalks, pastels, oil pastels
- Aprons or painting shirts
Attention grabber
This is is a great warm-up activity to get pupils used to standing up around a shared space and table.
To enable pupils to work next to one another along both sides of a long table, you may have to split the class into groups, depending on the shapeThe form of an object. and size of your classroom and furniture.
Play a piece of water/river/sea-themed music, such as Debussy’s ‘La Mer’ and ask pupils what colours they are imagining while listening to the music and what kind of lines would best represent water. Ask them to use their hands and arms to ‘draw’ the lines in the air.
Show pupils:
Ask them to describe how the artists have used different materials to represent water.
Key questions
- What did we learn about lines in the previous lesson?
- What sort of lines are they?
- Does it look like water?
- What lines represent water, in a swimming pool, or a pond, or the sea, or a river?
- What colours do you think we would see?
- What kinds of lines are the artists using?
- Is water an easy thing to draw or paint?
- How does light change the way water looks?
- What colours should we choose to use with this drawing?
Play the music again and ask them to draw big lines representing water on the paper you have laid out. Set up a space for yourself so that you can demonstrate this and join in with the activity too! Give them approximately three minutes to work, encouraging them to connect to each other’s lines.
Main event
Before playing the music again, ask children to look at and reflect on what they have done so far and make sure their lines connect to those drawn by the people on either side of them.
Then give the children a direction as to what material or line type they should be using/making when the music starts. Using music helps here because, like a game of musical chairs, they only draw when the music plays!
Play the music while the children work, then stop it again to give another instruction and repeat, until a variety of materials and techniques have been used.
When the water looks complete, ask the children what might live in the sea/river/water? Pupils’ suggestions of creatures/plants/shells etc can now be drawn in the blank spaces (these could be drawn on separate pieces of paper and added at a later session if you’re short of time).
You can adapt this activity by requesting that children change places and pick up where one of their peers left off, similar to musical chairs.
Use the Pupil video: Making waves for further demonstration, and/or have on whilst pupils are working independently, for them to refer to as they work (the video is looped so will play continuously).
Differentiation
Pupils needing extra support: encourage to use a range of materials and draw using big, wider arm movements.
Pupils working at greater depth: will control the materials more effectively and create more accurate work. Encourage them to develop greater detail in their drawing.
Wrapping up
Ask the children to wash their hands and put the materials away safely.
While they do this, make sure the table is clear so that only the work(s) created can be seen.
Then ask the class to walk around and talk about the effect of the large artwork and to point out interesting areas. You can be specific with questions, for example: show me a wavy line, show me a soft line.
Assessing pupils' progress and understanding
Pupils with secure understanding indicated by: Experimenting with a range of mark making techniques.
Pupils working at greater depth indicated by: Linking their marks to others and responding to the music and the work of the artist.
Vocabulary
Wavy
Waves
Water
Lines
