Great Barrier Reef Paintings

 

By Tim, (Year 3), 2011



Lesson Background:

As a part of our unit of work on Australian geography, icons and landmarks, I decided my class would enjoy producing some paintings of the Great Barrier Reef.  They loved seeing photos of the brightly coloured fish and coral and tried to recreate this in their artworks.  I think they did very well!  We used the stunning artwork by Des Spencer (see below) as well as lots of photographs, for inspiration:
http://www.great-barrier-reef-holiday.com.au/great-barrier-reef-holiday-facts.aspx

Lesson Steps:

1)  We looked at the artwork above and at lots of photos of the Great Barrier Reef.  We observed the different shapes, colours and textures of different fish and coral.
2)  The students used the artwork above to help them draw a large fish in the middle of their A3 art paper.  I demonstrated how to do this first.  They were then encouraged to modify their fish by changing the fins, tail, patterns etc, in order to make it unique.
3)  Using photos as a guide, myself and a number of my clever and keen students, drew samples of different fish and coral on the board.  Students watched this modelling and then drew their own coral and fish onto their artwork, also adding in the ocean floor.
4)  I demonstrated to the students how to mix acrylic paint, keep the paint clean and how to outline shapes before filling them in.
5)  I also demonstrated how to use light, shade and varied textures on their fish and coral.  Some of my students had a great go at this tricky technique!
6)  Students painted their artworks and when dry, outlined their shapes in black permanent markers.

Year 3 Student Artworks:



By Andrew




By Kundai



By Ethan



By Ailec



By Denzelle




By Keyan



By Angus



By Tom



By Jia



By Shaun

  

By Liam



3B class artworks