Poppies Symbolism of poppies has long history of life, death and renewal. The seeds remain dormant under Ground for years until disturbed and then they flower. Vincent Van Gogh (Post-Impressionist) Claude Monet (French Impressionist) Georgia O Keefe (American Abstract) Henri Matisse Shape: Symmetrical, long, thin, positive, negative organic/irregular Colour: Warm, cool, complementary, tone, contrasting Line: Overlapping, irregular, uneven, long, winding, meandering, direction, movement Texture: Shinny, sparkly Skills: Observational, seeing, noticing Principles of design: repetition, variety, movement, contrast, unity, balance. Techniques: overlapping, patterns, colour mixing, collage, mixed media, screen printing, cropping Poppies View, discuss and interpret images of Poppies by a variety of artists. Discuss symbolism of red poppy. Have screen printed or patterned or painted paper ready for folding in half (about A5) Demonstrate different ways of cutting out a symmetrical vase. vase onto paper just a little above the edge of paper and a little off centre. Demonstrate drawing an irregular/organic line (stem), drawing slowly as if it is growing slowly (soft music helps) Make it a double line and then draw another stem overlapping the first one to show that some are behind and in front of each other, some going in different directions and have different lengths to give a sense of movement and variety. At end of line (stem) draw a small circle surrounded by larger one, then draw 5 similar size petals (love heart shape if want) Colour with oil pastel and Crayola sticks, looking at blending different tones in the green (mix blue and yellow in) for the stem and orange and red in petals (red near centre to give sense of depth) purple in circles in middle.
Draw horizontal or diagonal table line 1/3 way up vase and colour table in, perhaps repeating the purples/red that are in the flowers. Wash across the flowers and stems in cool colours to contrast with the warm reds. Collaged Poppy Have Eric Carle style paper or paper of different tones of red/warm colours. Have paper of different tones of green paper ready (children could collaborate with blue and yellow paint to colour mix on large piece of paper). Demonstrate cutting a long, thin piece of green paper and glue it down on white paper. Demonstrate cutting out love heart shapes in similar sizes and arrange in a radial pattern. at end of long, thin green line. Draw in circle in centre with marker or cut out dark purple, shinny sparkly paper for contrast in the centre of the flower. Abstract Poppy View and discuss Georgia O Keeffe s Red Poppy and other flowers she has painted in close up. Talk about zooming in, enlarging and cropping. Give students a colour copy of a large red poppy. Use a view finder to move across image until an interesting composition is found (one with strong contrasts) Draw around the edges of the view finder and cut out. On a piece of watercolour paper cut to size, make a grid of thirds (3 lines x horizontally and 3x vertically) very softly and lightly in light coloured watercolour pencil. Then make a grid across the cut out section of the flower. Demonstrate how to draw what you see (turn it upside down) taking particular notice of tonal value and its subtle changes. Positive and negative shapes can make it more interesting. Shading and blending techniques could be practiced and demonstrated before hand. Once whole piece of paper has been coloured, gently use a water colour brush and water to turn each section into a painting, avoiding just brushing the whole composition with a wet brush as all the tonal changes and colours will be lost. The term appropriation applies if using Georgia O Keefe s Red Poppy for children to find a section to cut out to and then enlarge create their own abstract painting, Roll light blue paint across canvas at top going down to Yellow brown at bottom. bottom of canvas. Red, Stipple soft irregular shapes in very light tones of blue for clouds
Use different size brushes to stipple, starting 2/3 or way up canvas creating an irregular/organic line across the canvas to represent mountains in the distance. Dark tones will give a sense of depth and distance. Different brushes will give a variety of marks. Work your way down the canvas, with each row of stippling done in a slightly lighter tone. When nearing the bottom of canvas, dab, stipple and flick light orange/red/browns to create the foreground. Warm lighter colours will appear to come toward the viewer. Dark, cooler colours will recede. When the canvas is dry, dot masses of dots close together with Posca markers to represent flowers in distance. Children to cut out 5 similar size petals or love hearts and bring to canvas, place a dot of dark coloured glue to mark the centre of the poppy and then arrange petals around the glue making sure the smallest part of the petal is in glue. When finished get a couple of children to draw or collage some green stems. Materials for poppies Patterned paper Cut into A5 or smaller. White A4 paper Scissors Oil pastels Oil Crayola sticks Fine black markers Coloured pencils. Materials for Screen printing: Irregular/organic shapes cut out shapes Glitter paper Screens and squeegee Paint. Materials for Collaborative Canvas. Canvas Paint, Brushes, sponges, mark making tools Coloured red/orange paper
Posca markers Petal or heart shape templates for petals Materials for watercolour poppies: Good cartridge paper or even better watercolour paper Fine black permanent markers Watercolour pencils Watercolour brushes Pots of water Tissues or paper towels Patterned paper Scissors Materials for collage poppies. Scissors Coloured paper/eric Carle style paper Materials for Abstract Poppy View finders Water colour paper Watercolour pencils Watercolour paint Watercolour or fine brushes Rulers Large coloured images of poppies for each child
Georgia O'Keeffe Henri Matisse
Vincent Van Gogh Claude Monet Eric Carle