×

Persell Paints

Students Learn About Line, Color, And Value

Sixth and fifth grade students finished painting safari animals in Michela Tehan's Persell Middle School art class Thursday. Students were given four to five class periods to complete their paintings that depicted various animals from the safari. P-J photos by Jordan W. Patterson

African safari animals varying in vibrant color schemes were seen inside Persell Middle School — in water-color paintings that is.

Inside Michela Tehan’s fifth- and sixth-grade art class, sixth-grade students were painting away finishing their projects Thursday.

Tehan said throughout a semester, New York State Education Department requires students be exposed to the seven elements of art that include line, color, shape, value, texture, space, and form. The animal painting project encapsulated three of those elements: line, color, and value.

“They were able to learn some water-color techniques along with the elements of line and color,” she said.

Tehan described the water colors the students used as “very intense colors.”

On Thursday, students were steadily making final touches on their paintings. Each varied in color and choice of animal. Purple gorillas, bright yellow cheetahs and blue hippos were depicted by the middle school students.

There were several requirements for the paintings that included creating a contrast between warm and cool colors, and they also learned how to mix colors to create those desired warm and cool images.

The project started with the students drawing a contour image they would later paint.

Cool colors for example are green, blue and purple and warm colors include red, orange and yellow. If a cool color was selected for the animal then a warm color was used for the background and vice versa. For example, a blue hippo with a yellow, orange or red background creates a sharpcontrast in the painting – which was the goal for the project according to Tehan.

Students were then given a rubric to grade their own projects on aspects like effort. The overall grade the students give themselves will be averaged with the grade Tehan will give them. She said the students are mostly honest with their self-evaluated grades and are often more critical than she is as the teacher for similar projects.

Tehan said several students were unsure of their own capabilities of drawing and painting an animal according to the rubric. She said over the project’s duration the students were visibly more relaxed and confident with their creations.

Prior to beginning their drawings, students studied actual images of safari animals to help them replicate the actual animal. Replicating an actual image in a drawing is a curricular requirement for the middle school students. With similar projects, students are also given a history lesson depending on the topic, but the water-color project was primarily focused on element and technique. The project also served as the first of the year for the middle school students.

“I think most of them are proud of what they’ve done,” Tehan said.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today