LINES, SHAPES & COLOR

Miro watercolor resist figures

TIME REQUIRED: One @ 50-minute session

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Miró WATERCOLOR RESIST FIGUREJoan Miró’s shape and line focused paintings

make a perfect inspiration for easy art projects.

This watercolor resist painting takes little time,

especially if you use a smaller piece of watercolor

paper.

Hop over to wikiart.org to download a copy of

The Smile of the Flamboyant Wings, 1953 and

Figures and Dog in Front of the Sun, 1949. These

two paintings are rich with identifiable lines and

shapes that can be used as inspiration for this

project.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

• 12” x 9” watercolor paper

• Black oil pastel or crayon

• White oil pastel or crayon

• Watercolor paints (liquid or tray)

• Medium paint brush

• Black waterproof marker

• Paper towel & water

The Smile of the Flamboyant Wings, 1953

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ABOUT JOAN MIRÓ

ABOUT the artist

Joan Miró was a Spanish painter and sculptor who was born in 1893 in Barcelona. When he

was eight years old, he started taking drawing classes. He continued to pursue art as well as

business as he got older. He ended up leaving business behind to fully devote himself to

creating art. His early works were greatly influenced by Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Cézanne.

He moved to Paris and contributed to a very important movement in art history known as

Surrealism. Surrealism artworks showed exploration of the imagination and dream-like images.

His whimsical abstract paintings combine line, shape and color in very interesting ways. Many

of these paintings use shapes and pictures as symbols that tell stories.

In 1931, an art gallery opened in New York

City that showed important works in the

Modern art movement. This gallery was

called The Pierre Matisse Gallery (ran by

artist Henri Matisse’s son) and introduced

Miró’s art to the United States.

The World Trade Center Tapestry (pictured above) created by Joan Miró and Josep Royo was

destroyed in the September 11th attacks in 2001.

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DRAWING THE MIRÓ FIGUREObserve the lines and shapes Miró used in his paintings by studying a collection of Miró

paintings. You can find a selection of his art at wikiart.org

On a sheet of 12″ x 9″ watercolor paper, use a white or

black oil pastel to draw Miró-inspired lines and shapes.

Draw only the basic shapes first and leave the smaller

line details for later.

To keep the drawing simple, select a simple shape like a

triangle, oblong or peanut shape to create a “head”.

Then draw another large shape for the body.

TIP: Miró played with intersection of lines and shapes

and also scale. Encourage students not to be afraid of

creating a large head and small body or any other

unusual perspective.

If using a white oil pastel to draw the figure, it can be a

real challenge to see what you are actually drawing.

Tilting the paper towards the light can help. Make sure

to make the white oil pastel lines thick and dark. This

means tracing or coloring over the lines. The resist will

work better if there is a strong distinction between the

white lines and colored watercolor paints.

Many of Miró’s works of art have strong black lines. If

using a white oil pastel, consider using either a black oil

pastel OR a waterproof black marker to add strong lines

and shapes. This addition of the black lines creates

contrast and draws attention to areas of the painting.

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PAINTING THE MIRÓ FIGUREUse a tray of watercolor paints or liquid

watercolors to paint inside all the shapes.

Discuss how Miró often used color blocking in

his art. He also used white space effectively.

Encourage children to consider whether or not

to paint a background or use a color saturated

color palette.

The painting steps are quite simple. Using a

palette typical for Miró (black, blue, red, yellow

and green), paint the shapes with a strong

application. The colors should look bright, not

washed out.

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Miró Drawing Guide

Draw a circle for a head, a straight line for the neck and a big triangle for the

body.

Draw aline down the middle of the

triangle. Divide the triangle again.

Fun ways to draw a Miró-inspired face

Miró-inspired legs and arms are lines with shapes attached. How many ways can you draw arms and legs?

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Miró Coloring Sheet

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CREATING Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work — Brainstorm multiple approaches to

art and design—use of various materials to make art

Organize and develop artistic ideas and work — Explore materials to explore personal

interests in art-making—demonstrate safe use/cleaning—repurpose objects into something

new

Refine and complete artistic work—discuss/reflect with peers about choices when creating

artwork

Presenting/producing Analyze, interpret and select artistic work for presentation— categorize artwork based on

a theme or concept for an exhibition

Develop and refine artistic work for presentation — distinguish between different

materials or artistic techniques for preparing artwork for presentation

Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work — analyze how art exhibited

inside and outside school contributes to communities

Responding Perceive and analyze artistic work- describe aesthetic characteristics of the natural world—

categorize images based on expression Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work — interpret art by identifying the mood

suggested and describing relevant subject matter and identifying the characteristics of

form

Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work— use learned art vocabulary to express preferences

about artwork

Connecting Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art- create works of

art about events in home, school or community life Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural and historical context to deepen understanding —create works of art about events in home, school or community life

NATIONAL CORE ARTS STANDARDS-second grade

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

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CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.1 Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or book they are writing about, state an

opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking words (e.g., because, and, also) to

connect opinion and reasons, and provide a concluding statement or section.

Students address this standard when completing the artist statement worksheet (located in

Resources). They are writing their opinion about the artwork they made based on how it was

created and how they were inspired.

CCSS.Math.Content.2.G.A.1 Recognize and draw shapes having specified attributes, such as a given number of angles or a given

number of equal faces.1 Identify triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, and cubes.

After students have drawn their Miró figure, you could have them identify shapes they created using

straight and angled lines such as triangles, quadrilaterals, etc. to build on their math concepts.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.2.3 Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to clarify comprehension, gather

additional information, or deepen understanding of a topic or issue.

Encourage students to ask questions about Miró in the form of a discussion. Model for them how to

elaborate on answers about artwork by pointing out what elements or principles they see and how

the artist used them to create an intended meaning for the works.

Common core standards for miro watercolor resist

I CAN STATEMENTS FOR miro watercolor resist• Today I will learn about artist JOAN MIRÓ, so that I CAN DESCRIBE his art.

• Today I will learn about LINE and SHAPE, so that I CAN draw an ABSTRACT composition using

GEOMETRIC and ORGANIC shapes.

• Today I will learn about WATERCOLOR RESIST and CONTRAST, so that I CAN paint my shapes

with colors that stand out against each other. I’ll know I have it when my colors look bright, not

washed out.

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ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST

Student Name:

Can the student tell me at least 2 facts about Miró?

Did the student draw organic and geometric shapes?

Did the student paint colors that appear bright, not washed out?

Main Ideas from:

MIRÓ WATERCOLOR RESIST

FIGURES