Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes – Part A: Guess the Colour
30 minutes – Part B: Creating Colour Wheels
20 minutes – Part C: Creating an Artwork
10 minutes – Reflection

Part A: Guess the Colour

Step 1.

Start the lesson by playing a quick game to encourage students to begin thinking about ‘colour’. Invite students to form pairs and then run them through the rules of the game (available in the Student Worksheet):

Step 2.

Demonstrate this game to the class by using the colour ‘orange’. Explain that a way to describe orange might be: ‘it’s a warm, glowing colour’. Ask the class to suggest some more clues for orange such as it is ‘bright’ or is a ‘happy/positive colour’. Once the class has suggested a few clues, point out how we can relate colours to physical feeling like pain, or emotions such as sadness; we can even describe colours by relating them to sounds, taste and smells.

You may wish to extend this demonstration by asking if the class can come up with a sound or taste for orange (If they have not already).

Step 3.

Invite students to find a pair and move to a space so that other pairs won’t overhear their clues. Rearrange furniture to create more space, if needed. Write the colour for this round on the board. Ask the first guesser to look away from the board then write the colour ‘blue’. Erase the colour and begin the first 60 second round.

You could project an online stopwatch during each round so that students know how much time they have left.

Step 4.

Invite students to swap roles and repeat the game using the colours ‘red’, then ‘green’, ‘purple’, and ‘yellow’.

Step 5.

Facilitate a class discussion about which colours students found easiest and hardest to describe. Ask students to share any clues that worked really well. Ask students to think about why they think this might be the case.

Reiterate to students that they have shown that they already know a great deal about how colour can be used to represent other things like emotions and sensations. Colour is a language that we all speak. Now they will be learning about how colour combinations can be used to create effects in artworks.

Part B: Creating Colour Wheels

Preparation:

You’ll need the Primary Colours Wheel , a paint brush and red, yellow and blue paint for this part of the lesson.

Step 1.

Ask students if they can name the three primary colours (red, yellow and blue). Ask students about why these three colours are important (suggested answer: combinations of these three colours make up all other colours). Explain that this is why they are called primary colours; they are the beginning or foundation colours.

Step 2.

Ask the class to gather around the space that you use for demonstrations, and make the primary colours wheel visible for the class. Explain that this is the primary colour wheel. Ask students if they know what colour is made when you mix yellow and red together.

Once students have had a chance to respond, demonstrate how orange is created by mixing yellow and red paint in the space between the yellow and red segments of the wheel. Wash out your brush and repeat this process to create purple and green, completing the secondary colour wheel.

Step 3.

Provide the class with a range of connector pens, explaining that these are a great way to create colour wheels in a tactile manner. Invite students to form groups of 3-5 and use the Connector Pens to make a colour wheel. You can make these colour wheels by laying the pens down in a wheel shape on a desk.

Depending on the number of Connector Pens available, you may choose to complete this activity as a whole class. This can be done by inviting groups create a colour progression, for example one group may have yellow to orange, and the next may have red to violet, the next may have blue to green. Once groups have created their progressions, challenge them to find the groups that their progression connects to. Invite students to continue connecting their progression until you have a completed class colour wheel.

Use the colour wheel factsheet. to check the results of your class colour wheel.

Step 4.

Once students' Connector Pen colour wheels are complete, invite them to work independently to use the markers to draw a line of each colour on the space provided on the Student Worksheet to illustrate the progression of a colour wheel (see sample below.

Part C: The Colour Wheel in Action

Step 1.

Explain to students that the colour wheels that they have created are used by professional artists, designers, animators and a range of other creative professions to decide on the best colour combinations (colour schemes) for their work. Students will be learning about two ways that they can use the colour wheel to create effective colour combinations.

Step 2.

Explain that colours from the opposite side of the colour wheel are called complementary colours. Refer back to the colour wheel on the wall to show the complementary colours red and green. Ask students to help you find the complementary colour for yellow (purple/violet), and blue (orange).

Step 3.

Inform students that for this part of the lesson, they will view an artwork to see how complementary colours have been used.

Project Howard Arkley’s ‘Nick Cave’, 1999 (https://www.portrait.gov.au/portraits/1999.16/nick-cave). Explain that Howard Arkley was a famous Australian artist who made his colourful art using stencils and an airbrush. This artwork hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

Guide students to describe what they see in the image, including the colours that they see in the image.

You may also wish to invite students to reflect on this image by posing the following questions:
• What do you see in this image?
• What does it make you think about?
• What does it make you wonder?

Step 4.

Ask students to pick the Connector Pens from their colour wheel that match the colours used in the image, and click the complementary colours together. They may match up violet/purple and yellow.

Invite students to share the colour pairs they made with the class.

Point out to students that complementary colours are used so that they stand out against each other. Complementary colours create powerful and dramatic effects so are often used sparingly in artworks.

Step 5.

Explain to students that colours next to each other on the colour wheel are described as analogous colours. This means that they are different, but alike. Ask students to view the secondary colour wheel on the wall and identify analogous colours for red (orange and purple/violet), blue (violet/purple and green) and yellow (green and orange).

Step 6.

Inform students that for this part of the lesson, they will view an artwork in which analogous colours have been used. Project Howard Arkely’s 'Triple Fronted', 1987 (https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/1.2014/)

Invite students to reflect on the image using the following questions:

What colours can you see in this image?
What else do you see in this image?
What does this image make you think about?
What does it make you wonder?

Step 7.

Ask students to pick the Connector Pens from their colour wheel that match the colours used in the image, and click the analogous colours together. They should create several pairs of analogous colours, including yellow and orange, yellow and green, blue and violet, and violet and red.

Invite students to share the colour pairs they made with the class. Highlight that the work is full of analogous colours. Analogous colours blend well, they are more subtle and can be used in larger blocks without becoming overwhelming.

Step 8.

Invite students to use Connector Pens to create an artwork that uses complementary and/or analogous colours. Distribute a copy of the black and white outline image to students and direct them to:

Choose an area of the image they’d like to draw the viewer’s eye to.
Choose 2 complimentary colours from their Connector Pen colour wheel, and use them to colour in that section of the image draw the eye of the viewer to that area.
Colour the rest of the image using analogous colours.

Once students have finished colouring, invite them to leave their work on their tables, stand up and walk around the room to view each other’s works.

Reflection

Invite students to answer the following questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

How would you rate your understanding of colour wheels before this class?
1 = I didn’t understand at all, 5 = I fully understood
How would you rate your understanding of colour wheels after this class?
1 = I didn’t understand at all, 5 = I fully understood
What new things did you learn about colour in this lesson?
What uses can you think of for this new colour knowledge?
What further questions do you have about colour?

You could record student thoughts and use some of these ideas to guide further discussion or inquiry.

Differentiated Learning

Extension – Invite students to find a poster used to promote a movie or television show that they like. Ask students to break down the colour scheme of the poster, speculating where they believe the designer would like to draw the audience’s eyes.

Invite students to use the same questions used to analyse Howard Arkley’s work on a selection of Jasper Johns’ 'Colour Numeral', 1969 series (https://www.nga.gov/features/the-serial-impulse/jasper-johns.html) that includes the artwork ‘9’. Encourage students to replicate the colour gradation on one of the works.

Provisions for Learning Support – The following video is a great introduction to the colour wheel

The Color Wheel (https://youtu.be/NN5h6Uwtqzw)

Project the two Howard Arkley works onto a whiteboard and use a whiteboard marker to circle complementary and analogous colours in the works. Alternatively, print a class set of these artworks and work with students to circle the colours.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Creative Sustainability - Exploring Colour

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