Looking to the horizon

Using the dramatic landscapes of Joseph William Turner as a touchpoint, our fifth grade students are learning the basics of creating depth in landscape work. Simply, there is a predictable pattern that painters tend to use to frame horizon-meets-sky scenes. Our students used inferential thinking as they tried to answer the guiding question, "how do artists make landscapes feel deep?" eventually we arrived at a point which allowed them to work on their own pieces.

The standard rule of thumb is that the ground meets the sky with greatest contrast and then land/sea and sky change as they move "closer" to the viewer in a predictable manner. Students worked with large "canvases" to create this affect.

Later, we are adding a classic wooden ship, printed using a printing block as crafted from students' own drawings onto the painting. These will serve as symbols and reminders of the great risk and opportunity that was accepted by the early settlers of our country. This is done as a nod to the rich work done in study of early America in fifth-grade classrooms here at Del Mar Heights.

The results should be fantastic when all is completed.