Pointillism Q-Tip Painting

Submitted by: Bunki Kramer, Los Cerros Middle School, Danville, CA

(Bunki passed away in May, 2014)
Grade Level: middle school
Lesson: Pointillism

Procedure:
This one is done in pointillism using Q-Tips and watercolors.  Using a picture, we crop with viewfinders and locate a balanced composition. On 12x18" (30.5 x 46 cm) paper we make a 1" (2.5 cm) border in pencil lightly and sketch in the proposed drawing. I like this exercise for showing students how to mix their watercolors using the palette and diluting with water to get shades of each.  Colors are mixed with brushes, but application is with Q-Tips.

Before doing this lesson it would be good to cover pointillism and some of the masters who do it. There are several links below that might help. Your students can also create an online pointillism painting on IAD by visiting the Pointillator!

Materials

• Q-tips

• Watercolor Paint

• Brushes

• Photos or Magazine pictures

• 12"x18" (30.5 x 46 cm) white Drawing Paper

Books

Georges Seurat, 1859-1891: The Master of Pointillism - This book is about the method of painting around colour contrasts in which shade and tone are built up through dots of paint (pointillism) that emphasize the complex inter-relation of light and shadow.

Georges Seurat (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists) - This book provides the key biographical details of Seurat's life, but it is the development of his peculiar painting style that Venezia emphasize more. So the art history lesson here is what young readers will take away from reading this book. There are sixteen drawings and paintings representing the entire course of Seurat's career, along with three studies for "Une Baigndae, Asnieres" to go along with two studies and one detail from "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte."

The Art of Pointillism with Seurat - Learning from the Masters is a series of mini art lessons which teaches through fun hands on activities an appreciation for our most famous artists. Georges Pierre Seurat is featured including a biography, fun facts for kids, suggested reading, YouTube videos, internet sites, as well as beginner, intermediate, and advanced activities. High stakes testing skills can be improved through reading aloud, studying the vocabulary, and following directions--art as a back-door approach to teaching these learning skills.

Game: For students who finish early, they can put together a Seurat painting puzzle- Whimsical Seurat Eiffel Tower Wooden Jigsaw Puzzle

Links

• Pointillism, Based on Study of G. Seurat [Archive]

• Pointillism Thinkquest [Archive]

• Ascender Pointillism [Archive]