Artists Paint Their Feelings

Elements of Art

Color: Light reflected off an object.  Color has three properties: hue (name), value (light/dark), and intensity (bright/dull). 
Line:  A mark with greater length than width.  It can be straight or curved.
Shape: An element of visual arts; a two-dimensional (flat) area enclosed by a line:
Geometric: shapes and/or forms that are based on mathematical principles, such as a square/cube, circle/sphere, triangle/cone, or pyramid. Organic: shapes and/or forms that are irregular, often curving or rounded, and more informal than geometric shapes.

Principles of Design

Movement: using the elements of art such that they move the viewer’s eye around and within the image. In this lesson it may be line & color that undulate to suggest a ‘flow' or feelings.

Additional Vocabulary

Expressionism:  a style of painting of the 20th century, expressionism uses simplified designs and brilliant colors to express a definite or strong mood or feeling.   

Materials & Supplies

Context (History and/or Artists)

Artists create art that conveys to us how they think and feel about things. Artists use different lines, shapes, and colors to express their feelings.  Every artist chooses their own colors, lines and shapes that are meaningful for them. Learn more about Expressionism as an artist movement HERE.

• Edvard Munch: Born in 1863, he was a Norwegian painter and printmaker. He used intense colors, shapes and lines to show his feelings. He is best known for his painting called, “The Scream.” This painting shows anger, frustration, and fear.
• Vincent Van Gogh: Born in 1853, he was a Dutch painter. He used bold colors and dramatic brush strokes to show his feelings. A painting that shows this best is, “A Starry Night.” With twirls of clouds, dark structures, moons, planets and winds, this painting clearly shows that the artist was confused, frustrated, anxious, and contemplative.
• Pablo Picasso: Born in 1881, he was a Spanish painter, printmaker, sculptor, and poet. He used drawings, lines, textures and colors to show his feelings in his art. “Guernica” is a great example of how he painted his feelings. This painting is black and white. It shows his anger and sadness about something that happened. It has hard lines and soft lines that show his confusion.  
• Georgia O’Keefe: Born in 1897, she was an American artist known for painting enlarged flowers. She painted flowers, rocks and water to show her feelings. Her painting, “From the Lake” is a beautiful painting showing a smoothly flowing lake. It shows calmness, hope.

Advanced Preparation

• Prepare a slide show of the work by the above artists.
• Write the elements and principles mentioned above in a place your students can see.
• Set up paper, pencil, markers, paints and water container with paper towels.

Tips & Tricks

• Change the water often to keep paint colors true.
• Explain to students that the colors brighten when the brush absorbs more paint in the paint/water ratio.
• Use paper towels to blot excess water or mistakes. Never rub the paper with the paper towels.

Discussion Points

Using examples paintings from the artists above (“The Scream,” “A Starry Night,” and “Guernica”), ask the students what feelings those paintings show. And then, explain the meaning (according to grade-level) of each painting. Talk about lines, shapes and colors. See below:

Lines

• A dark, thick, angled line can show anger or being mad
• A thin, flowing, rounded line can show happiness

Shapes

• Squares, triangles and rectangles can show anger, fear, confusion
• Ovals can show sadness
• Circles can show happiness and joy

Colors

• Red can mean anger or love
• Pink can mean love or cheerful
• Blue can mean sadness or calm
• Green can mean good energy, soothing, calm and safety
• Yellow can mean cheerful and good energy
• Orange can mean happiness and healthy

• Purple can mean sadness, disgust and mystery

Reflection Point (Assessment of Learning Objectives)

Students will:

• participate in a critique of artist's work that expresses emotions.
• help generate a list of potential lines, shapes and colors that could express their own emotions.
• create a painting that expresses a personal emotion.

Instructions for Lesson

1. Give each student paper in a vertical or portrait position on the table.
2. Have the students write their names on one side of the paper.
3. On the other side, with a pencil, have the student draw a semi-circle in the bottom 1/3 of the page (this will be the head).
4. With a pencil, have the student draw their eyes in the semi-circle.
5. With a black marker, instruct the students to go over the line of the head and the lines of the eyes.
   
6. Above the head, with thin or thick black markers, have the student use lines and shapes to create their “feelings” and “emotions” on paper.
   
7. Lastly, have the student paint the white space with the tempera paint or watercolors using colors that they want to use to express their “feelings”, using brushes of varying sizes.
8. Set aside painting and allow to dry.
9. Students can title their painting with the emotion that they are expressing.