Commanding COLOR and Versatile VALUE - Brief Article

Combine a still-life drawing with 12 colors (or more) of tempera paint and you have a new kind of color "wheel," contrasting pure, powerful color with tantalizing tints.

I begin this Art I project by having my high school students draw--either vertically or horizontally--on 10" x 14" railroad boards. We keep our drawings simple, lightly sketching about three objects. Then we lightly draw a 2-inch grid over the drawings.

I then ask the class to find an area on the page which would be enhanced by the addition of an element. I remind the students that a center of interest is not always in the middle of the page, nor is it usually at the very edge. At the chosen spot, we draw a saucer-sized circle over our previous lines.

All of the shapes inside of this circle are then painted with 12 pure, high-intensity tempera colors--the primaries, secondaries and intermediates. I require my pupils to mix their own accurate intermediates. Since more than 12 spaces probably exist in the circle, repetition of a color must occur. In other words, we use a single color in several places.

Finally, the artists must fill in the shapes outside the circle with a variety of tints and lowered intensities. At this point, I introduce white, and perhaps black, paint. I allow gray made from black and white, with the caution that lower values may lessen the visual impact. For example, a dark shape next to the bright circle of pure colors may contrast very little, while high values (very light colors) around the circle accentuate it.

By placing the brightest colors inside the center-of-interest circle, we utilize the design principle of emphasis. A variation that some students successfully employ is to use several circles, painting pure primary colors inside one, secondaries in another and intermediates in yet another circle.

A more challenging version of this lesson is to mix all 12 colors from just the three primaries, or to use the complements (rather than black) to lower the intensity of tints. You might substitute another medium for tempera paint, such as acrylics, watercolors, oil pastels or chalk pastels. Try working larger, too, for paintings with even more punch!

Assessment is based on craftsmanship, ability to follow directions, use of contrast, and complexity of design.

Devoting multiple class periods to this painting is worth it, as the powerful pales and bold brights result in a lovely learning experience.

MATERIALS

* Rulers

* Compasses or protractors

* Railroad or illustration board

* Pencils and erasers

* Still-life objects

* Tempera paint

* Brushes

* Palettes

Paula Guhin teaches art at Central High School in Aberdeen, S.D., and is a Contributing Editor for Arts & Activities.

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