Concentric Circles: Abstract Watercolor Painting
Vasily Kandinsky explored art and its connection to music. He was a pioneer of abstract art! During this lesson, students will create abstract paintings in the style of Vasily Kandinsky, and will specifically look at his work with concentric circles. Students will use liquid watercolor, and experiment with color layering and application. Students are provided with a sheet of watercolor paper that has a grid layed out throughout. Although this grid isn’t necessarily integral to the artwork, I found that it does help students focus less on the composition, and more on color mixing.
Fine Arts Goals/Objectives:
Students will be able to create a watercolor painting that is nonrepresentational
Students will be able to mix liquid watercolor to create tertiary colors
Students will be able to follow a grid to paint circles throughout a paper.
Nat’l Core Arts Standards:
VA:Cr1.2.2a - Make art or design with various materials and tools to explore personal interests, questions, and curiosity.
VA:Cr2.2.2a - Demonstrate safe procedures for using and cleaning art tools, equipment, and studio spaces.
VA:Pr6.1.2a - Analyze how art exhibited inside and outside of schools (such as in museums, galleries, virtual spaces, and other venues) contributes to communities.
VA:Re8.1.2a - Interpret art by identifying the mood suggested by a work of art and describing relevant subject matter and characteristics of form.
Vocabulary Acquisition:
Abstract Art
Non-Representational Art
Artmaking Materials Needed:
Liquid Watercolor
Watercolor Paper
Medium to Large Brushes
Contemporary/Historical/Multicultural/Popular/Literature Art exemplars:
The Noisy Paint Box by Barb Rosenstock
I introduced this lesson to a group of K-2nd grade students. They all really really enjoyed this work, and completed it in one 45 minute session!! They had a BLAST experimenting with color mixing, and seemed to really thrive within the set of expectations that I set. The Noisy Paint Box is a really fun picture book that the students actually really connected with! Many of them talked about how they have been gifted paint just like Vasily, and were really interested in how he connected music he heard into art!! We also looked at many of Kandinsky’s works. We played a little bit of a guessing game—I showed the students examples of his work, and they guessed what the work might be. We started with pieces that were a little more representational, and moved to more abstract pieces. They had a great time guessing what the pieces might’ve been.