Color under the sea

Arts & Activities, June, 2005 by Sandi Pippin

Are you looking for an exciting way to introduce both color theory and painting to your students? This lesson will encourage the students to learn color theory as well as have fun painting. This is a wonderful interdisciplinary study combining the visual arts along with science.

Begin the lesson by discussing what is in the ocean. Ask your students questions like, "What is found at the bottom of the ocean?" "What kinds of colors might we see?" "Would different times of the day affect the colors?" Look at pictures of oceans and saltwater fish and discuss the brilliant colors.

Next, introduce the color wheel and have the students pay particular attention to how the colors are arranged. The "Color Under the Sea Painting" will give your students an opportunity to learn color theory and put that theory into practice. Each painting will demonstrate their creative thinking abilities, as well as their ability to follow directions.

PROCEDURE Using water, dampen a small section of sulfite paper. Use the wet-on-wet technique with watercolors to add color to the paper. When the section has enough watercolor (you can sprinkle a small pinch of salt on it if desired), tear off a piece of plastic wrap and place it on top of the wet watercolor. Wrinkle the plastic wrap and place it quickly on the paper. Do not move the plastic wrap. Continue this step until the whole paper is covered with watercolor and plastic wrap. Carefully move the paper to fresh newspaper and place it on a drying rack overnight.

Using pencil, lightly draw six different fish, approximately 3" x 4" in size, on the watercolor background. Draw a unique pattern on each fish.

Using tempera, paint one of the fish using the primary colors only. Begin with the lighter colors first and then paint the darker ones. Discuss proper brush care and cleaning to prevent color/paint pollution. Demonstrate removing excess water out of the brush to prevent the pooling of color.

Paint the second fish using the secondary colors. A quick way to remember these colors is to remember the abbreviation for the word governor: gov (green, orange, violet). Paint this fish by mixing the primaries together to get the secondary colors.

Paint the third fish with all six intermediate colors. Demonstrate the mixing of the colors: yg (yellow green), yo (yellow orange), ro (red orange), rv (red violet), bg (blue green), and bv (blue violet).

Paint the fourth fish in a monochromatic color scheme. Use tints and shades of the selected color. Students can select their favorite color for this fish.

Paint the fifth fish with complementary colors. Use tints and shades of each of the two complements.

Paint the sixth fish using an analogous color scheme. Include tints and shades of each analogous color.

Lightly sketch in the environment of the ocean. Include plants, rocks, coral, octopus, sunken ships or anything that sparks the imagination. The students will paint the background mixing all of the colors needed. They are encouraged not to use the paint straight out of the bottle. Show highlights, middle tones and shadows of colors to achieve more interest based on a light source either from above or down in the ocean. Students may also add air bubbles to the fish and plants to show life if they wish.

The most important culminating activity is to mat and display each piece proudly with the artist's name for all to see. How exciting it is to see color under the sea!

VOCABULARY

* Analogous

* Color wheel

* Complementary

* Cool colors

* Highlight

* Hue

* Intensity

* Intermediate

* Middle tone

* Monochromatic

* Primary

* Secondary

* Shade

* Shadow

* Tint

* Warm colors

* Wash

* Value

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Students will ...

* learn how to mix colors based on the color wheel.

* creatively express themselves based on imagination.

* begin to understand the effect light has on color.

MATERIALS

* 12" x 18" sulfite paper

* Watercolors

* Plastic wrap

* Brushes (#12, #1 rounds)

* Water bowl

* Tempera paint

* Mixing tray/paint palette

* Salt (optional)

* Newspaper

* Paper towels or rag

Sandi Pippin teaches art at Truitt Middle School in Houston, Texas.