The Night Garden

Drawing Lesson
Learning Objectives:
Students study flowers and artworks of flowers, focusing on the elements of art and design
within them. They carefully look at, smell, and touch real flowers to develop symbols for
and knowledge of flowers. (Perception) They look at flowers carefully while creating a garden
of flowers with colored chalk on black paper. (Creative expression) They compare art prints of
flowers from different cultures; and relate art to jobs requiring skill in flower arrangement.
(Historical/cultural heritage) They discuss and critique their own artwork and that of other
students in a group format using Assessment Guidelines which focus on the students’ use of
art elements and design principles. (Response/evaluation)

Vocabulary:
Art elements, design principles, color, shape, form, value, texture, balance, proportion,
pattern, rhythm, contrast, subject.

Concepts:
1. Nature is an inspiration for artwork.
2. Flowers studied in minute detail reveal beautiful designs.
3. The elements of design can be studied within a flower. Examples: scale, proportion,
repetition, balance, and contrast.
4. Each part of a flower (petals, stems, leaves, seed pods, stamens) can be studied for visual
design content. Example: The shapes of leaves, the patterns of tiny veins on petals, the
textures of different flower parts, the color hues, values and intensity.
5. Value is the lightness or darkness of a hue or color. It is created using tints and shades of
a color.
6. Rhythm is the intentional, regular repetition of lines, shapes, or colors to achieve a
specific repetitious effect or pattern.
7. Balance is when the parts or art elements in a composition are arranged to have the
appearance of equal importance.
8. Contrast refers to a difference between two things, such as light and dark, curvy and
straight, thick and thin, etc.
9. Proportion refers to the size relationships of one part to the whole and of one part to
another.
10. The subject of a painting is what the painting deals with or is about.

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Materials:
12" x 18" black paper, colored chalk or pastels, fixative spray (unscented hair spray will
work), fresh flowers around the room.

Procedure:
1. Show the video lesson to the class.
2. "The subject of today’s artwork is 'A Night Garden' - colors so bright that they glow in
the moonlight. The most important part of this lesson is preparing for it; and by that I
mean we are going to look at flowers in a way we may never have before."
3. Discuss the flowers while the students examine them.
a. Compare the size of flowers to each other. Compare the size of the petals to the
centers where the seedpods and stamens are. Compare the leaf size to the flower
size. Compare the number of petals on different flowers.
a. Look at the repetition of shapes. “Can you see any pattern? Any rhythm?”
b. Look at the vein patterns on leaves and petals.
c. Study the shapes of petals and leaves, the structure, the stamens, and the stems.
d. Feel the textures. Compare the different textures in one flower.
e. Describe the colors - their brilliance, their variations, and values within a flower.
f. Smell the flowers.
4. Ask class if this experience has changed them or made them feel different. If so, how?
5. Now look at some artworks of flowers: for example El Vendedor by Diego Rivera
(Kindergarten art print kit), Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh (Grade 1 art print kit), Pot
of Flowers with Pears by Paul Cézanne (Grade 4 art print kit), or any of Georgia
O’Keeffe’s flower paintings. (All these are also available using the Google website by
searching under the ‘name of art print + name of artist’.) Compare the use of the various
art elements and design principles in these paintings, as well.
6. "Now that we are 'looking experts', we are ready to design and create a glowing night
garden. Combine any of the flowers you see in the room or repeat one type of flower over
and over. It is your design, but you must show us you are looking carefully. We want to
see all the beautifully designed parts of the flowers."
Post Lesson Activity:
7. Have the class make a list of some jobs that require skills in flower arrangement. (Florist,
wedding planner, restaurant manager, home decorator, photographer, etc.) Point out that
flower arranging makes use of all the art elements and design principles that the students
have learned.
8. How do the paintings of van Gogh and Cézanne (19th century Europe) compare to those
of Georgia O’Keeffe (20th century American) and to those of Diego Rivera (20th century
Mexican). How are they similar? How are they different? Does the painting by Rivera
tell you anything about the culture he represents?

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Response/evaluation:
Display some examples of the students’ artworks in front of the class. Ask students to
respond to the following questions:
1. Has the artist used a variety of sizes and flowers? Describe.
2. Do you think the artist has looked carefully at the flowers? Tell why. Describe the
flowers.
3. Has the artist included the vein patterns on leaves and petals? The textures? Color
variations?
4. Has the artist created a design that is balanced? Has the artist created contrast?
How?
Have them answer these same questions about their own Night Garden artwork.

Student’s Painting of The Night Garden

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 Comparing Works of Art
(What does art tell us about the time period in which it was created?)

Gather the following art prints, along with their associate art print guides:
Study for La Grande Jatte Georges Seurat
American Gothic Grant Wood
Woman with Dog Mary Cassatt
Parade Jacob Lawence
Christina’s World Andrew Wyeth

Display the art prints in front of the class. Ask students to study the art prints for a few minutes
to prepare for the discussion. Then lead them in a discussion addressing the follow subjects:

1. Here are 5 art prints. Do you think that they were all painted during the same time
period? Why or why not? (The clothing is the biggest clue)
La Grande Jatte – late 1800’s
American Gothic – 1930
Christina’s World – mid 1900’s
Parade – mid 1900’s
Woman with Dog – late 1800’s

2. Do you think these paintings were all painted in the same place? (No) What are the
clues? (One is in a beautiful park, two are on a farm, one is in a city, one is on a
balcony.) Discuss the details that you see.

3. Select a painting and tell the class all the things the painting tells you about the people
and the way they live. (Refer to the questions on the back of the art print guides for
detailed questions.)

4. Select 2 paintings and compare:

Select one painting and tell how the artist has created the mood of the painting or told the story
of the painting with the art elements (color, line shape, space, etc.).