Middle-School Art Assignment 3: Landscape Painting
The Art students had to create their own landscape paintings by imitating the painting style of Canadian Artist Emily Carr, (affiliated with the famous ‘Group Of Seven’), through means of replicating certain aspects of her painting techniques, in original paintings of their own.
Furthermore, the Art students had to apply their newly gained knowledge of colour mixing, as well as the application of value and landscape painting techniques within their artworks.
Some of the main character-traits of Emily Carr’s work which the students had to imitate, included the application of low intensity colours or/ unnatural, arbitrary colours; emphasized geometric shapes within their depictions of nature scenes; the incorporation of distorted shapes to achieve greater expression; a post-impressionist painting style; and the depiction of a prominent focal point that attracts the viewer’s attention.
Painting techniques which were applied within this Landscape Painting Assignment, mainly included ‘blending techniques’ for painting sky scenes and water scenes with a thin brush; ‘impasto painting techniques’ for depicting snowy mountains with a palette knife; ‘feathering painting techniques’ for painting trees and bushes with a fan-brush; as well as ‘dry brushing’ and ‘scumbling painting techniques’ for painting clouds with a variety of brush sizes.
In addition to creating their own landscape paintings, the Art students had to write a formal Art Critique regarding any preferred painting by Emily Carr /or ‘The Group Of Seven’. In their analyses of these chosen artworks, the Art students had to deliver detailed accounts of their individual interpretations with specificity, especially regarding the correct application of arts-related terminology.
As part of their final assessment, the Art Critique activity also engaged the Art students to partake in personalized reflection, along with the completion of their own landscape paintings. The Art Critique was therefore intended to help students consider the processes and painting techniques involved when specifically depicting nature scenes, while they also had to reflect upon areas of individual success /or areas requiring individual improvement as upcoming artists.
Landscape Painting Assessment Criteria:
A.)-Thinking and Inquiry:
a.1)-Did the student plan an interesting and eye-catching composition regarding the use of proportion, space and emphasis?
a.2)-Did the student’s artwork resemble a similar painting style to that of Emily Carr /or the ‘Group Of Seven’, as it relates to the incorporation of particular Art Elements such as shape, colour and emphasis?
a.3)-Did the student select adequately challenging referencing images for his /or her landscape painting?
B.)-Application:
b.1)-Did the student apply painting techniques learned in class to effectively enhance his /or her landscape painting?
b.2)-Did the student apply colour theory correctly, by including colour mixing, value, light tints and shadows?
b.3)-Was the overall execution of the student’s landscape painting professionally & carefully done? (Neat and with no white canvas showing?)
C.)-Communication:
c.1)-Did the student critique the chosen artwork correctly, by applying the D.A.I.J. method?
c.2)-Did the student answer all questions of the art critique thoroughly, by providing specific details and research-based evidence?
c.3)-Are the explanations and academic arguments presented by the student, logical and clear?
c.4)-Did the student refer to the correct arts-related terminology within his /or her art critique?