Atypical Landscape
Mrs. Brown
Advanced Art
Landscapes are works of art that feature scenes of nature: mountains, lakes, gardens,
rivers, etc. They can be oil paintings, watercolors, gauche, pastels, or prints of any kind.
Derived from the Dutch word landschap, landscape can also refer to:
 cityscapes - views of an urban setting
 seascapes - views of the ocean
 waterscapes - views primarily featuring fresh water (think of Monet on the Seine)
Mandy Budhan
Leonid Afremov
M.C. Escher
Wassily Kandinsky
Paul Cezanne
Georgia O'Keeffe
What qualities do these landscapes illustrate?
They are all abstract landscapes. Abstract art can be a painting or sculpture (including assemblage ) that
does not have to depict a person, place or thing in the natural world -- even in an extremely distorted or
exaggerated way. Therefore, the subject of the work becomes more about: color, shapes, brushstrokes,
size, scale and, in some cases, the process (see action painting ). Abstract art began in 1911 with such
works as Picture with a Circle (1911) by the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944).
To make a subject abstract, you leave out details and focus more on shapes, lines and colors.
Mandy Budhan and Leonid Afremov are contemporary artists. O'Keeffe, Kandinsky, Escher and Cezanne
are all world famous artists. O'Keeffe and Cezanne are known for their landscapes.
All of these artists have a distinctive style.
For this project, you will create an atypical, non traditional landscape in a medium of your choice. You will
choose one of the above artists to research and use as an inspiration for this lesson.
The three photographs above are for reference of creative ideas on incorporating a landscape component
to your composition if you are more interested in still life or portrait subject matter.
To begin:
1. (a.) Choose an artist from above to look at their paintings, particularly their landscape paintings.
Try to figure out what are similar characteristics of all of the paintings by this artist.
(b.) Look for reference pictures for ideas to incorporate in your composition.
2. Make sketches of these ideas in your sketchbook. You should come up with at least 3 different,
developed sketches for possible compositions. The compositions should be a composite of and
stock photographs used from the internet. Try to be creative in including subject matter that is
important to you while also incorporating the required components in this lesson. These will be
graded as a mini project.
Line: a mark on a surface from one point to another that describes a shape or outline. A line can be
described as thick, thin, straight, curved, jagged, broken, implied, contour, expressive, constructive, vertical,
horizontal or diagonal
Shape: a two-dimensional line that has no form or thickness and intersects itself to enclose a space.
The two main groups of shapes are geometric (mathematical with rules and specific names) and organic
(free-form or irregular shapes).
Balance: a feeling of visual equality in shape, form, value, color, etc. Objects, values, colors, textures,
shapes, forms, etc., can be used in creating a balance in a composition. An artist uses this to give parts of
an artwork "equal visual" weight or interest.
Symmetrical – the art work is divided in half and each side is the same from the inside to the outside.
Asymmetrical – each half is different but there is balance within the elements of art that the artists uses.
Radial - from the center the objects radiate outward similarly throughout the art work.
Emphasis: you can make something a focal point by the size, placement, color, for example.
4. Look at your composition ideas and choose the one you like best. Discuss your compositions with
me and why you chose that composition for your final piece.
5. Decide on scale or size of landscape project. If on paper, also, decide on the background color
which should influence your palette.
 Color: When light is broken by a prism, the spectrum of colors is visible.
Primary Colors: Red, Blue, Yellow - can mix to make all other colors in color wheel and can not be made
with other colors
Secondary Colors: Orange, Green & Violet/Purple -made from mixing two primary colors
Intermediate (or Tertiary) Colors: Red-orange, Red-violet, Blue-green, Blue-violet, Yellow-green, Yelloworange - made from mixing a primary color with an adjacent secondary color
Neutral colors: Brown, Gray, Black, White
Complementary colors: Colors that are opposite one another on the color wheel and are completely
opposite in composition, ex. Yellow and Violet, Red and Green and Blue and Orange are the three sets.
They result in a high contrast effect.
Warm Colors: Red, Red-orange, Orange, Yellow-orange, Yellow
Cool colors: Violet, Blue-violet, Blue, Blue-green, Green
Analogous colors: a family of colors that all share one component in common, four consecutive colors on
the color wheel. Example: Blue, blue-green, green, yellow-green (all have blue in their composition)
Triadic colors: three colors that are evenly spaced on the color wheel. Example: red, blue, yellow
6.
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9.
Begin, stay focused, try something new, problem solve and ask for help if you get frustrated.
Once completed, fill out a rubric with your name and class.
Complete a written self-reflection with your name and class.
Hand in all three (Project, Rubric and Writing) before deadline.
Atypical Landscape Rubric
Mrs. Brown
Advanced Art
Name________________________________________________ Block/Class_________
CRITERIA
(WHAT WAS EXPECTED)
Landscape:
Effective use of symbols to
represent people, places or
things important to you.
Color:
Effective use of primary
colors to create secondary
and intermediate colors.
Effective use of value, using
tints and shades.
Composition:
Effective use of elements.
Well balanced:
symmetrically,
asymmetrically or radially.
Emphasis: one or more
components stands out as
the focal point. The entire
image is well thought out
and the space is utilized
successfully. Effective
balance of positive and
negative space.
Craftsmanship/Media:
Work is organized, well
presented and complete.
Various colored pencil
techniques were used
including blending, layering
and burnishing.
Effort:
Used class time effectively,
followed directions, paid
attention to central ideas of
the lesson.
EXCEEDS
EXPECTATIONS
(100-90)
MET
EXPECTATIONS
(89-80)
APPROACHING
EXPECTATIONS
(79-70)
DID NOT MEET
REQUIRED
EXPECTATIONS
/INCOMPLETE
(69 AND UNDER)
10-9
8-9
7-8
6 or below
10-9
8-9
7-8
6 or below
10-9
8-9
7-8
6 or below
10-9
8-9
7-8
6 or below
10-9
8-9
7-8
6 or below
SELF
TEACHER
SCORE
SCORE
Your total
Teacher’s
total
Total Points:
Grade:
50 x 2 = 100
Teacher Comments: