ELEMENTS OF

ART
EDPB 501
COHORT 2
CRISTIN SMITH
COLOUR
An element of art made up of three properties: hue, value, and
intensity. Produced when light striking an object is reflected
back to the eye.
Hue: name of color
Value: hues lightness and darkness (a colors value changes
when white or black is added)
Intensity: quality of brightness and purity (High intensity =
color is strong and bright; low intensity = color is faint and
dull)
LESSON IDEAS FOR COLOUR

Intermediate Read Peace Dancer by Roy Henry Vickers

and Robert Budd. Have students paint a Roy Henry Vickers
style painting using students favourite outdoor place.
Primary have students use tempera paint to paint a colour
wheel. This can be done using 12 rectangles or on a circle
divided into twelve spaces.
SHAPE
A two-dimensional area that is defined in some way. Shapes may be open or closed, positive
or negative, free form or geometric.
LESSON IDEAS FOR SHAPE

Intermediate Create a dramatic abstract collage only with shapes by

first staining tissue paper with different colours of watercolour. When
the paper is dry, cut out many different organic shapes including
flower shapes and leaves. Cut out large geometric shape which will
be the vase in this collage. Arrange the shapes on white paper, then
glue the pieces down, overlapping the shapes. When it is dry, cut
around all the shapes and glue the collage on black paper.
Primary - From six different coloured sheets of paper, cut six organic
shapes. From the same sheets of paper, cut six geometric shapes.
Arrange all the organic on the lower half of a piece of coloured paper
and arrange the geometric shapes on the upper half. Glue the pieces
down.
 TEXTURE

Texture refers to surface quality, can be real or simulated.

LESSON IDEAS FOR TEXTURE

Intermediate use a rough object as the subject for a

rubbing or frottage, use crayon to pick up the texture, then
paint the paper with watercolour. The crayon resists the
watercolour creating an interesting textural painting.
Primary create texture by making a rubbing or
frottage. Place a thin paper over a rough object
sidewalk, street, brick, piece of wood and light rub a piece of
graphite, crayon or charcoal over it.
VALUE
Degree of light or dark in a colour.
LESSON IDEAS FOR VALUE

Intermediate Draw an outline of a single white object;

like a ball, a paper bag, a bowl. Shade it with pencil or
charcoal to show serval light gray values.
Primary using any colour of tempera paint, make a colour
value chart that has up to ten values. Add white a little at a
time, to make colours lighter, and add black, a little at a time,
to make them darker. Start with the pure hue (or colour)
in the centre of the chart.
LINE
A path of a moving dot, where a dot is extended in some manner to determine a line. Can be
Thin, thick, bent, straight, broken, solid, angular, or curvy.
LESSON IDEAS FOR LINE

Intermediate have students paint a Piet Mondrian style of

artwork. Use http://www.theartstory.org/artist-mondrian-
piet.html to provide background information about Dutch
painter Piet Mondrian.
Primary Make one continuous pencil line that moves in all
direction over a piece of paper, even over itself many times.
Fill the shapes created with coloured markers or pencil
crayons. The result is a non objective work of art.
FORM
Occurs when a three-dimensional quality has been achieved in a shape.
LESSON IDEAS FOR FORM

Intermediate from soap, clay or papier mache, create a

non objective sculpture, one that does not represent any
natural form.
Primary draw an animal on a piece of paper to make a
two-dimensional drawing. An animal is an organic shape.
SPACE
The illusion of depth and/or form on a two-dimensional surface.
LESSONS IDEAS FOR SPACE

Intermediate cut a full page photograph from a magazine

of a cityscape into squares that are equal in size. Rearrange
the squares and notice what happens to the actual space in
the original photograph.
Primary paint mountain shapes in different values of one
colour. Cut them out and collage them on a piece of paper
placing the lightest shapes in the background and the
darkest in the foreground. This will clearly illustrate aerial
perspective.