TITLE: Watercolor Paintings O'Keefe Style

ART: Painting - Watercolor Painting

GRADE LEVEL: Art Level II

TEKS:

117.53 (1) Perception (A&B) (2) Creative expression / performance (A&C) (3) Historical / cultural heritage (A) (4) Response / evaluation (A&B)

OBJECTIVE:

Students will learn and practice watercolor techniques and then apply that knowledge to a painting that uses subject matter and abstracts that Georgia O'Keeffe might have chosen.

MATERIALS:

• See images below
• Other examples of O'Keeffe's paintings (see link below)
• Watercolor paints
• Brushes
• Watercolor paper: large sheet for final project, small sheets for practice
• Containers for water
• Rubber cement
• Sponge
• Tissue
• Salt
• Napkins
• Sheet of plastic
• Paper
• Pencil
• Flair marker (any color, but black is usually used)
• Handout of watercolor techniques (Optional and included in links below)

Time Required: 2 - 2 1/2 weeks (10 - 13 class periods)

DISCUSSION:

View and discuss O'Keeffe's work. Ask the students the following questions:

1. What type of subject matter do you see in O'Keeffe's work?
2. How would you describe the colors that she used?
3. Are the paintings symmetrical or asymmetrical?
4. Does the subject look detailed or simplified?
5. Does the artist zoom in or pull back on the subject?
6. What type of paint does it look like O'Keeffe used?

Discuss Georgia O'Keeffe the artist. (See links below for information)

Tell the students they will be creating an O'Keeffe like painting, using her idea of subject matter simplified into "interesting shapes that feel the space in a beautiful way."(Quote of O'Keeffe's when describing an artist's work that influenced her). Tell them they will also be using one of O'Keeffe's favorite media, watercolor paint.

ASSIGNMENT:

Collect photographs (or preferably real examples) of old bones, animal sculls, flowers, seashells, and landscapes. Ask the students to look at them and think about their shapes. In a class discussion have the students describe the shapes in a single word, ex. curved, smooth, round, jagged, broken, etc.

Tell the students this quote of O'Keeffe's: "I see shapes in my head, sometimes I know what they are and other times I don't."

Study and practice the techniques used in watercolor painting and create a final painting using O'Keeffe's abstract style of large, simple shapes.

PROCEDURE:

• Teach the students how to do watercolor washes, including wet-in-wet, flat, and graded washes.
• Allow the students to practice these techniques.
• Teach the students how to do a resist by trailing rubber cement with the pointed end of a pencil onto paper. After the cement has dried, paint the areas around the cement (the rubber cement will hold the paint in the shapes and prevent the paint from mixing in different areas). After the paint is dry, remove the cement by gently rubbing it off with your finger or the eraser end of a pencil (be careful not to smear the paint). The areas can then be outlined with a flair marker.
• Allow the students to practice this.
• Demonstrate how textures can be created in watercolor paint. Demonstrate using plastic, a napkin, salt, and sponge. (See handout below for more explanation)
• Allow the students to practice these techniques.
• Have the students create several contour drawings of subjects. Use the subjects studied at the set of this lesson. Stress using O'Keeffe like subjects and simplified abstractions. Review the O'Keeffe examples again if needed.
• Let the students choose their best drawing and crop areas away if it will improve their composition.
• Have the students redraw the contour drawing on watercolor paper. Draw lightly, so the lines can later be erased. You may elect to use large sheets, similar to O'Keeffe's large flower paintings. (O'Keeffe's idea was to force the viewer to look at the flower and see it the way she saw it by painting it very large.)
• Have the students trail rubber cement on the pencil lines being careful to keep the rubber cement on the lines. Students can hold a small piece of scrape matte or poster board in their free hand to catch the cement trail when they are finished with a line. Allow the rubber cement to dry.
• Paint in the areas of shape with watercolor washes. Graded washed that create a modeled look in the shapes will create a more O'Keeffe like appearance. Review the paintings again if needed.
• Textures may be added to areas of the painting as the students work. Even small areas of texture, such as in the center of a flower, can add interest. Tell the students this is not something that O'Keeffe used but it is something that can add an interesting element to their painting.
• After the paint is dry, remove the rubber cement. Erase the pencil lines that still show. The white lines can be left as they are or can be outlined with a flair. (Other edges in the painting can also be outlined with the flair.)

SUGGESTIONS:

• Rubber cement makes it easier for students to control the spread of the paint and the textures are an easy way for students to experience success in a difficult medium, but one or both can be left out of the lesson.
• Hair dries can be used to speed up the drying process of the cement and paint.
• An O'Keeffe style painting can also be done in pastels or acrylic paint.

CLOSURE:

Display the student work and ask the students to discuss the successes and difficulties they experienced in their paintings. Ask them what they would do differently if they were to repeat the project.

RESOURCES:

Printable Handout on Watercolor Paint

Publications:
Ragans, Rosalind. Art Talk. Columbus, Ohio: Glencoe,1995., pp. 266, 353.
Katz, Elizabeth L., Lankford, E. Louis, Plank, Jan D. Themes and Foundations of Art. St. Paul: West, 1995., pp. 166, 230-231, 276.

Internet Links:
http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/indexflash.html (Bibliography and some art work)
http://www.ellensplace.net/okeeffe1.html (another bibliography)
http:/www.michelangelo.com/okeeffe/ (nice collection of art work)