Cool Values & HOT Deals.

Night and day, warm and cool, light and dark--these pairs of opposites have much in common. My high schoolers and I rolled them all into one vivid values project.

We used big potted plants as the basis for our initial sketches. I asked for simplified shapes on large newsprint.

Next, we divided the paper into six or seven sections by drawing right through the original sketch. The dividing lines could be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. They could be straight, curved, or a combination. Many students chose irregular spacing instead of using evenly spaced segments.

When we were ready to transfer the drawings to railroad board (illustration board would have been even better), we reviewed our understanding of warm and cool colors, high and low values, tints and shades, and monochromatic color schemes. I gave each artist the choice of using all warms or all cools, singly or together. I required both high and low values.

In keeping with their choice of warm or cool colors, some students embellished their drawings with sun, moon, and star symbols. Then we traced our final designs (divider lines and all) onto the boards--graphite transfer paper worked well for that. We painted with tempera, using primary colors, secondary colors, and mixed intermediates. Some used both warms and cools, treating their negative space with one type of color and their positive with the other.

As the paintings progressed, I reminded the class of the importance of contrast. I had requested a light-to-dark treatment of the background "stripes"; in other words, we painted the top segment of background a pale tint, the next section darker, and so on.

I encouraged the students to reverse that process on their foreground objects to maximize contrast. For example, light-colored shapes near the bottom of their page would stand out nicely against a deep-shade background. Most of the students painted flat shapes, without realistic modeling.

For other variations of this lesson, try a different subject matter rather than plant life, incorporate intensity into the assignment, use acrylics or watercolors and/or a different support. Try a similar activity on the computer. Whatever the method or media, use wonderful warms and cools, and terrific tints and shades too!

NATIONAL STANDARD

Students create artworks that use organizational principles and functions to solve specific visual arts problems.

Paula Guhin is an art teacher at Central High School in Aberdeen, South Dakota.