Colour shape Line Mood

Students will- Develop descriptive writing skills by using adjectives and descriptive phrases Identify and describe the artistic elements (i.e., lines, colours, shapes, mood) that are present in a piece of art Create an artistic rendition that adheres to the specific artistic elements of an artist's work

What is a description? When do we describe things? What are some of the reasons that we describe things? What kinds of words might you use to describe this room? (Use these questions to initiate a review and discussion of description, describing words, and descriptive writing.)

The artist's name and the title of the drawing. El Mar (The Sea) Microsoft Paint Paula C. Age 12 Medellin, Colombia Begin with a class description of what you see in the piece of artwork. For example, you may comment on the shapes, size of objects, colouring, and lines.

After the class has briefly describes what they see in the art. Now use the following questions to focus descriptions on the four artistic elements: colour, shape, line, and mood. What kinds of colours do you see? Are they dark, light, bright? Can you see any shapes in what the artist has drawn? Are they tall shapes? short shapes? large shapes? small shapes? What are the lines like? Did the artist make squiggly lines? straight lines? thick lines? thin lines? How does this painting make you feel when you look at it? Do you think the artist was happy when he or she drew this? Why or why not?

Now you are going to describe a piece of art on your own. Write descriptions of a piece of artwork using descriptive language and paying attention to the artistic elements in the piece. Write multiple paragraphs on the various artistic elements. Go to or or use the ones I have selected.

Once finished, exchange descriptions with a partner. The partner reads the description carefully two or three times. The partner then draws a picture (or sketch with labels) that matches the written description that he or she was given. Students then compare the illustrations that they drew to the original artwork described in writing.