"In the beginning, God created..." (Genesis 1:1). When God created the earth He did so with a well designed plan. He created the sky before He created the sun, the moon and stars, and the birds. He created dry ground before he created vegetation and animals. He created the seas before He created the creatures to live in them. Just as God created with a plan, we should create with a plan. The elements of art help us develop a plan. These are the elements of art.
Look at something as simple as a leaf. You can see the shape of the leaf; the lines and texture of the veins; the varying colors of each leaf; the light and dark values in the leaf; and the cylinder form of the stem, the branch, and the tree that the leaf came from.
Objective:
During this lesson you will explore the 7 elements of art as you create a leaf relief.
You may be asking, "What is a relief?" A relief is a type of sculpture that looks like it is raised from the background.
These are pictures of Reliefs. The top left is called Knitting. It was made in the 1800s by American artist, Thomas Eakins. The top right is called Madonna of the Stairs, and was created by Michelangelo in the late 1400s. The bottom relief was made to represent The 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry that served during the American Civil War. It was created by Robert Gould Shaw in the late 1800s.
Materials:
- 3" x 4" matte board
- leaves, delicate flowers, lace, anything flat with some sort of texture
- Elmer's glue, glue gun (you can use spray glue adhesive rather than Elmer's glue)
- brushes for glue; brushes for paint
- inexpensive aluminum foil
- inexpensive matte black spray paint ($1 spray paint from Walmart/Home Depot)
- 0000 steel wool
- white construction paper for the background
- wax pastels
- texture plates
- tempera paint; water & water containers; paint sponges
Process:
Day 1
- get a piece of matte board, wright your name on the back, and lay it in front of you
- using a brush, cover the matte board with a coat of glue
- choose a leaf and place it veiny side up on the gluey side of the matte board
- brush some glue on the leaf
- place a piece of tin foil (shiny side up) over the board
- use your fingers to gently rub the surface of the board to reveal the texture underneath
- fold the edges of the foil over (make sure your name is visible)
- spray your board with the black spray paint and let it dry
Day 2
- use steel wool to burnish your leaf reliefs, DO NOT RUB TOO HARD (you may burnish the board completely or you may leave a variety of values)
- if you happen to rub too hard, the foil can be gently glued back into place; repair it by using a black or silver sharpie to camouflage the tear
- to create a background display board for your leaf relief, color a piece of white construction paper with wax pastels over a texture plate, paint with tempera paint
- use the glue gun to attach your leaf relief onto the background
Can you describe the elements of art in your leaf relief?
Artsonia Leaf Relief Gallery
Standards: VA:Cr1.1; VA:Cr2.1; VA:Cr2.2; VA:Cr3.1; VA:Re8.1
*thank you Cassie Stephens for this lesson idea
Credits:
Created with images by phrawr - "Leaves"