This lesson was developed in association with art educator Lotte Calnek.
All lessons presented here implement project and inquiry-based learning strategies, and meet or exceed Massachusetts Arts Curriculum Framework standards.
Artwork presented here may NOT be reproduced in any way.
Art Lesson/Unit: Grade Levels 9-12
Complementary & Split Complementary Colors: Post Impressionist Painting Techniques
Enduring Understandings:
- Artists often use complementary and split complementary color combinations to create harmonious or sharp color contrasts within a work of art.
- Complementary colors are located directly across one another on the color wheel.
- Split complementary colors are the two colors adjacent to a complementary color on the color wheel.
- Post Impressionist artists often painted with vibrant brush strokes, exaggerated and brilliant color, or pure, flat color, and heavy outlines – conveying emotional responses to natural landscapes.
Essential Questions:
- How may the use of a color wheel help you understand complementary and split complementary color theory?
- Why may you select certain complementary and split complementary colors that create harmonious or sharp contrasts within your work of art?
- How will you create a painting inspired by the concepts and techniques of Post Impressionist artists?
Exemplars and Inspirations:
This lesson is inspired by examples of Post Impressionist and contemporary landscape paintings.
Materials and Techniques:
- High quality, black & white photographic references of landscapes: focus on shape, value, and composition
- Color wheels created by students in previous lesson
- Primed canvas or heavy-weight paper for painting
- Gesso if heavy-weight paper is used
- Acrylic paint and a variety of paint brushes
- Palettes, paper towels or paint rags, water cups
- Graphite drawing pencils and erasers
- Drawing from reference and imaginative drawing techniques
Modifications:
- Students may choose to interpret black & white photographic reference in a naturalistic or abstract painting style