Observational Drawing Workshop #2 – Landscape (35 min)
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1SFjL8ROsPO4gSO9CDLbszFiS9m3qyDHm4RZDV7mSfjs/edit?usp=sharing
Below: Link and QR Code for Dr. Bess Padlet
Link Triada's Sessions (QR code: )
Drawing Tree Branches/Trees
Paterson Steam High School
Observational Drawing Workshop #2 – Landscape (35 min)
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1SFjL8ROsPO4gSO9CDLbszFiS9m3qyDHm4RZDV7mSfjs/edit?usp=sharing
Imagination Warm-Up (7 min)
Imagine tree branches and the space between them in your mind.
See the way the lines reach upward see the spaces between the branches. What kind of shapes are those? Those are the negative spaces. The branches are the positive spaces, so this is a positive negative visualization.
What do you see?
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What does it smell like?
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What do you hear?
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What does the bark feel like?
2- 3 mins
Open your eyes. Use charcoal and the paper in the vertical sense to draw what you see. 3- 4 mins
Carefully observe the actual branches and draw from the branches beginning at the bottom of the paper and go upward. Practice blind contour first then full contour. Use a premade frame. You can do this with your fingers or make a cut out. If you hold the cut out in the portrait way you draw in the portrait way etc. and explain how it’s proportional to the page. Think about gesture. 8 mins
Looking at Art History PIET MONDRIAN 5 mins
Show the artist Broadway Boogie Woogie, and show how he started with the spaces between trees to get to his abstraction. 5 mins
🌳 From Trees to Boogie Woogie: Mondrian's Path to Abstraction LINK
Piet Mondrian’s journey from naturalism to abstraction is one of the most fascinating transformations in modern art. Here's a quick visual and conceptual overview — from early trees to the rhythmic city grids of Broadway Boogie Woogie.
🌱 Why It Matters
Mondrian’s trees weren’t just botanical studies. They were the seeds of a radical new art — one that stripped away the visible world to find deeper truths in rhythm, structure, and balance.
Connecting to other subject areas using the tree drawings: 5 mins
Music / Poems / Words / Math Equations / Science and more 5 mins
Teacher Reflection on Padlet: Cross-Disciplinary Discussion: How might this practice connects to your subject area? How could you adapt this observational drawing lesson to your own classrooms? 5 mins mins
New Vocabulary: Positive/Negative Space / Landscape Drawing/ Viewfinder / Piet Mondrian / Naturalism / Abstraction / Cubism
LINK Professor Samaras Google Slides
LINK Professor Samaras References
Below: Padlet Created by Dr. BessTeachers: Please add your arts integration ideas for your classroom
and/or other comments about this drawing experience today to the Padlet
below.
