Cape Farewell Youth Expedition 2008 Art Lesson Plan

Video 3
Landscape Painting
Aim/Objective Students will use atmospheric perspective to describe space. They will learn
how to create paintings that provoke viewers to consider questions about the
environment and endangered species.

Time 45 minutes for looking at Cape Farewell video and/or contemporary artists and
discussion, two 45-minute sessions to make work, 45 minutes for reflection. Times
can be varied according to needs of particular teacher or class.

Suggested Lesson 1 Watch Care Farewell video, look at and discuss art work by contemporary
Sequencing artists listed in activity, using the critical questions to help guide
the discussion.

2 Students participate in art activity.

3 Students reflect in smaller groups, in written responses, in self-evaluations,

in larger group dialogue, in exhibitions and critiques.

Questions
How can you represent the illusion of space in a painting?

How can you create a sense of scale?

How could you depict problems facing our environment in a painting?

How did photography change the role of painting?

What is “atmospheric perspective”?

How is space depicted differently in Eastern and Western art?

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Cape Farewell Youth Expedition 2008 Art Lesson Plan

Video 3
Landscape Painting

Activity

Students will make paintings of the landscape using classical and contemporary
ideas of perspective.

Atmospheric Perspective

Materials:
watercolor paper, ink, brushes

Suggested Images:
Cape Farewell video #3
Mona Lisa
Madonna Litta, 1490-91, by Da Vinci
http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_3_1b.html
Chinese ink landscapes

Look outside and notice the atmosphere, the sky, and the colors. Notice how
colors seem to fade in the distance, losing intensity as they recede. Ask students
why they think that happens. Introduce Da Vinci’s ideas about atmospheric
perspective with the following quote: “There are three aspects to perspective.
The first has to do with how the size of objects seems to diminish according to
distance: the second, the manner in which colors change the farther away they
are from the eye; the third defines how objects ought to be finished less carefully
the farther away they are.” (Leonardo da Vinci)

Watch and discuss Cape farewell video #3. Have students explore with ink,
working with the variety of concentration using more or less water, using ink
pens and a variety of nibs, working wet on wet, and layering. (45 minutes)

Show students landscape images by Da Vinci and Chinese landscapes—two

very different renditions of space—pointing out the contrast between eastern
and western approaches, and the use of ink in the Chinese works. Students then
go outside and paint the landscape from observation, using ink in a variety of
tonalities. (45 minutes)

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Cape Farewell Youth Expedition 2008 Art Lesson Plan

Video 3
Landscape Painting
Changing Ice, Land, Oceans, Atmosphere

Materials:
tempera paint, paper, brushes or oil or acrylic paint on canvas

Suggested Images:
The Iceberg, 1975, by Frederic Edwin Church
Lake Lucerne: The Bay of Uri, 1841-1842, Joseph Mallord William Turner
The Shore at Trouville: Sunset Effect, 1866, Gustave Courbet
Coquelicots, environs D’Argenteuil, 1873, Monet

The change in climate has a huge impact on the natural world, and many
regions are undergoing extreme changes. Ask students what areas do they know
of that are particularly affected. They may also consider areas affected by natural
disasters or even ways they see the environment changing where they live.
Students research a region and learn about how it is specifically impacted by
climate change. What are the ways it is changing? How will you show how the
habitat is changing? The class can be divided into groups, each section tackling
a different environmental area, for example, ice, land, oceans, atmosphere.
(The American Museum of Natural History website has information for educators
and students on this topic: http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/climatechange/)

Students then make a landscape painting of the place they have researched,
paying particular attention to mixing colors, brushstrokes, and composition.
Teacher could show the above landscape images for inspiration.
(Two 45-minute classes, or more depending on time frame.)

A Catalogue of Endangered Species

Materials:
watercolor paint, watercolor paper, watercolor brushes, pencils, reproductions
of endangered species

Suggested Images:
John James Audubon watercolors
Orphans of Lola Ya Bonobo: Portrait of Lomami, 2006, by Charles Alexander

Ask students how climate change is affecting animals in different habitats.

Brainstorm a wide variety of species. This could be done in collaboration with a
science teacher. Students choose one animal and they research the struggles it
faces for survival. (45 minutes)

Show students watercolors by John James Audubon (1785–1851), the French-

American ornithologist, naturalist, hunter, and painter. Discuss the importance of
accuracy and observation in painting before the advent of photography. Discuss
how he was able to observe the animal and render it clearly. Also show the
pastels by Charles Alexander of portraits of bonobo orphans. Demonstrate basic
watercolor techniques including color mixing, wet on wet, layering, and leaving

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Cape Farewell Youth Expedition 2008 Art Lesson Plan

Video 3
Landscape Painting
the white of the paper. Have students create a watercolor portrait of an
endangered species. They may want to begin with a light pencil drawing first.
The paintings could be exhibited with the animal’s scientific classification and
their endangered status. The teacher could contact a local animal organization
and have a representative come and speak to the school.

Additional information & resources

Masters of Illusion Video, National Gallery of Art

American Museum of Natural History

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/climatechange/

Joseph Beuys
http://www.walkerart.org/archive/D/9D43B9DCCD821B0F6167.htm

Field Notes from a Catastrophe

Elizabeth Kolbert, author

Endangered Animals: A Reference Guide to Conflicting Issues

by Richard P. Reading (Editor), Brian Miller (Editor)

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

http://www.mnh.si.edu/

Audubon
http://www.princetonaudubon.com/HTML%20Pages/john_james_audubon_
watercolors.htm
http://aic.stanford.edu/sg/bpg/annual/v12/bp12-12.html

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Cape Farewell Youth Expedition 2008 Art Lesson Plan

Video 3
Landscape Painting
Additional Artists

Marlene Dumas (ink paintings)

Rembrandt (ink landscapes)
Joseph Beuys (interest in animals and natural world)
Roni Horn (art 21 video, weather/Iceland)
Olafur Elliasson (”Weather Project” Tate Modern)
Constable
Turner
Monet
Seurat

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