Birch Trees

4th GradeElement of Art Shape and Space

Texture

Element of Art Shape and SpaceTexture

Forest by Gustav Klimt“When I see birches bend to left and rightAcross the lines of straighter darker trees, I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.”

Birches Poem by Robert Frost• What does the poet mean when?• A man is walking through the woods, looking at the top of the tree line. He sees some trees swaying

in the wind and he starts to imagine things about the trees. He thinks about how the ice covering the trees cracks when they bend. Then he thinks about how heavy ice and snow will bend thin trees to the ground. This gets him imagining a boy climbing to the top of trees and bending them down until he can let go and fall safely to the ground. He remembers doing this when he was a kid and wishes that when he felt trapped in his adult life he could climb trees. This memory makes him feel like life isn't a trap, because his youthful imagination can free him at any moment.

BACKGROUND

FOERGROUND

MIDDLEGOUND

Today’s Project• Birch tree bark•Masking•Watercolor background• Salt texture

Birch Tree Bark

Use Tape Provide to mask out where Birch trees.

Paint Sky Using Blue Water Color

Sprinkle salt to create texture in the sky

Step 2- Trees in Perspective

• Close trees = bigger• Farther away trees = smaller

Step 3- Create a Horizon Line

HORIZON LINE

Step 3- Painting the Sky

Paint Shadows along the edge of tree line and on the white snow or ground.

Using a thin brush, paint kind of curved grey/black markings on the tree.

Some students prefer to use a marker for this step.

Step 6- Painting the shadows & highlights

• Repeat on all trees, making sure to keep the shadow on the SAME side of the tree. • To complete the trees, the students should take the black (or brown

/black watercolor) paint and make several horizontal dashes and dots on each tree. Each tree needs just a few.