Everything looks different when you look at things differently Close Up Everything looks different when you look at things differently

An artist’s focus changes based on the times. For hundreds of years, art was inspired by religion. An artist’s focus changes based on the times.

Around the late 1400’s it became more common for artists to be inspired by, and receive a paycheck for, portraits created for wealthy people. Jan Van Eyck, Arnolfini Portrait, 1434. Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas, 1656.

Many artists also began capturing the beauty and grandness of nature, where humans appear very small in comparison. Johannes Vermeer, View of Delft, painted ca. 1660–1661. Caspar David Friedrich, Abby Graveyard Under Snow, 1819.

On ships, they used telescopes to spot things far away and make them appear bigger to see more detail.

Sometimes the viewer can’t tell what the whole picture is unless they step away from it. In the 1800’s, artists experimented with light and soft brush strokes. People doing everyday things became interesting to paint. Georges Seurat, Bathers at Anieres, 1883-84

In the 1900’s photography was an area of artistic exploration. Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage, Photograph, 1907 In the 1900’s photography was an area of artistic exploration. Harris and Ewing,1905-1945 Ansel Adams, Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park, CA, 1944

Scientists use a microscope to see elements so small we wouldn’t be able to see them with our plain sight. Like pollen on a flower

Space scientists use telescopes to see things too far away…like Jupiter. 365 million miles away from Earth

What do you think this is a close up of? When artists decide to paint something up close, they are placing importance on something we might not notice if we were looking at the whole image. What do you think this is a close up of? Kitty Harvill, Close up of Owl Butterfly Wing, 2013 Cedric Moulin, Horse Eye, 2009

Why do you think the artist chose to paint this part of the jaguar? What do you think is looking at the jaguar? Is it looking at the jaguar from high above, like in a tree? Or from the ground from the safety of a bush? Why do you think the artist chose to paint this part of the jaguar? Christophe Drochon, Heart’s Mountain, 2013

Many artists like to focus on painting close ups of things like: flowers, fruit or waves. This approach makes the artwork more abstract.

Georgia O’Keefe The Black Iris, 1929 Hannah Bruce Water and Sky, 2012 Veronica Minozza Close up of Strawberry, 2012

Here is an image of a mailbox. Let’s focus on one part of the mailbox Here is an image of a mailbox. Let’s focus on one part of the mailbox. When you focus on a small part of a big picture, it simply turns into shapes.

Here is our project today! A piece using something called a view finder. Art Supplies: 5.5” cardstock Pencil and eraser Colored pencils View finder template Scissors Scotch tape Art Fundamentals Covered: Discovering abstract shapes from a different perspective Drawing based on reference photo

The first thing we need to do is to make a view finder STEP 1: Fold the paper in half. Step 2: Cut along the line.

Your goal is to place your viewfinder on an image and enlarge the part seen in the viewfinder on a piece of paper.

The older students might try the more detailed image to use their view-finder on.

Step 3 Step 4 Think about where lines are in proportion to the edge of the paper. Place the viewfinder on the image. Move it around to find what area you want to enlarge.

Continue drawing the details Step 5 Step 6

Moving on to colored pencils… Step 5 and 6 Using colored pencils start to go over the lines first, then filling in the space. How hard you press determines how dark the color gets.

Continue with colored pencils… You do not need to match the colors to the print out. But the exercise does require you to try to match the lines. If you finish one and have time, do another from a different part of the picture.