Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today all about hidden worlds, exploring collage, and mixed media.

We're going to do lots of thinking, talking, and exploring together in this lesson.

So, shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to observe and respond to images of microorganisms. Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The key words we'll be using today are microorganism, observe, respond.

I'm going to say those words again and I would like you to repeat them after me.

Microorganism, observe, respond.

Good job, now let's think in more detail, about what these keywords mean.

Here are the definitions of each of these keywords.

A microorganism is a very small living thing, like bacteria or viruses, that you cannot see without a microscope.

To observe means to look at something carefully and notice details about it.

To respond means to react to a stimulus.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords.

And when you are ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson: observing microorganisms and responding to microorganisms with colour.

In the first learning cycle, we're going to observe microorganisms. Now let's take a look, zooming in to this image.

What might the rest of this image look like? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? What do you imagine the rest of this image to look like? Well, this image shows microorganisms. And can you see that's the section we were looking at just a moment ago? A microorganism is a very small living thing, like bacteria or viruses that you cannot see without a microscope.

So even though we can see them here, that's still very zoomed in through a microscope and when we looked a tiny section of that.

Microorganisms can look very different to other living things.

This might make them interesting to artists.

Taking a look at that image there, which part do you find most interesting? The microorganisms that are orange, or maybe the big pale blue microorganisms. Some artists who have explored small, living creatures or microorganisms are: Georgia Rowswell; St.

Johnswort Cross Section; Klaus Kemp; Ernst Haeckel, Jellyfish; Mahendra Nazar, Microbiological Friends, 2012; Lea Anderson, Frutti; Klari Reis, Animalcule; and Darlene Charneco, Symbiosome Schoolhouse, 2021.

So those are various artists who've explored microorganisms. Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Microorganisms might be interesting to an artist because they look different to other living things.

Is this statement true or false? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said true, that's absolutely right.

Why is that statement true? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you discuss? Maybe you said microorganisms might be interesting to an artist for many reasons, including that they look different to other living things.

Sofia is observing and then drawing an image of a microorganism.

This means she is looking closely at what she sees.

She might notice tones, patterns, lines, and colours within the microorganism.

Taking time to observe an image before beginning to draw or paint can help an artist to see patterns, tones, and lines clearly, making their artwork more accurate.

Let's take a moment to pause here.

What can taking time to observe help an artist do? Make their work more colourful; Make their work more accurate; Finish their work faster.

Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said it makes their work more accurate, you're absolutely right.

That's why it's important for artists to take time to observe.

You might look at an image of a microorganism and observe some things too.

Taking a look at this image here, Sofia says, "I observed that there were patterns in the microorganism." What can you see? What kind of patterns? So we've got different patterns showing up here.

We've got some lines coming off of these round pale microorganisms. We've got some wavy lines too and even some dots.

These patterns and lines have been repeated to make a pattern.

Can you see this closeup now, zooming in, what kind of pattern can you see? Can you see how it has been repeated? And how that's created some texture? These line styles can be observed in the microorganism.

So you can see here on the outside, those wavy lines, we've got some short straight lines, and even here, we've got some curled lines.

Sofia says, "I observed that there were wavy and straight lines within the microorganism." And we can see those there.

You might have observed that the microorganisms have different tones.

This means areas which are light and dark.

So taking a look there, Sofia says, "I observed that there were dark tones and light tones within this image of microorganisms." Which colours could you see? Now these tones can be observed in the microorganism.

Here we can see that this part has light tones, this pale blue.

But this image here has dark tones, looks almost purply, doesn't it? Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Which image shows the lightest tones? A, B, or C? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said C, you're absolutely right.

This image shows tints of green and yellow, so it has the lightest tones.

This brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to select a small section of a microorganism image.

I'd like you to observe the patterns, lines, and tones that you see.

And using your observations, they're going to help you imagine what the rest of the image might look like.

Now, remember, to observe something, you need to look really closely.

And finally, I'd like you to draw your ideas around the image.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at this learning task and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did that go? Were you able to observe the patterns, lines, and tones that you saw in a small section of a microorganism image? Did your observations help you think about what the rest of the image could look like? Well, your sketchbook might include something like this.

You maybe created some drawings around the outside with repeated shapes and lines to create patterns and include some dark tones, some different line styles, and maybe some light tones.

Can you see how the image is in the centre there and the drawings around the outside? Well done for observing those microorganisms and for completing this learning task.

This now brings us to the second part of our lesson.

We're going to take a look at responding to microorganisms with colour.

What colour do these two images have in common? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you are ready to continue.

What colour did you think these two images had in common? Well, you might have noticed that both images include this orangey, brown colour here.

There's also a shade of blue or green.

An artist might also observe colours that they see within an image.

They might respond to an image by using similar colours in their own artwork.

Sofia's looking at this one and she says, "I observed that there are bright blues and purples." Have a look at that image.

Could you see those colours there? And you can see here that Sofia has taken some swatches of those colours.

She's matched this purple up to that microorganism in the image there.

And looking at this purple, that's more like this longer microorganism here.

You can respond to the image by using similar colours in your own artwork.

This does not mean that you have to have an exact copy, but using something that you have seen and you can then make it your own.

So Sofia says, "I observed some purples I really liked, so I will make tints and shades of purple to use in my own work." Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

A response means: taking an idea but changing it to make it yours; creating an exact copy; or using different materials.

Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? How do we finish this sentence? Well, a response means taking an idea but changing it to make it yours.

Artists don't have to make an exact copy when they respond to a stimulus, but may just take an idea such as a colour or a pattern.

You might practise making the colours you have observed before you add them to your artwork.

So here, Sofia has made different swatches of colour here from those purple she liked, she created some different tints and shades.

You could also use some different techniques with watercolour paint.

So Sofia says, "I am going to make splatters with my paintbrush to show some patterns in the microorganisms." So here's an image of some splatters here.

Perhaps you would like to try this technique.

Sofia says, "I might try using layers of watercolour paint to show a depth to the colours I am using." So here we can see different layers of that watercolour paint.

Sofia says, "I might use a wet-on-wet technique as well, to blend the colours." And you see here how she's used that wet-on-wet technique.

That looks really nice.

And I can see the idea of the microorganisms there.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

In which of these images has the paint been layered? A, B, or C? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said B, that's absolutely right.

In this image, the paint has been layered to create an idea of depth.

This brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to respond to an image by using colour.

So first of all, observe the colours that you see in your image, then practise mixing the colours you wish to use, use a variety of techniques with watercolour paint including splattering, layering and wet-on-wet.

And then, paint your microorganisms using the colours and techniques that you've practised.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to respond to an image using colour and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you find that? Which colours did you practise mixing? And which techniques did you enjoy the most which helped to create your microorganisms? Well, your artwork might include some imagery like this, where we've got those colours that you've observed in your microorganism, and also those different painting techniques such as that wet-on-wet and also those layers where we created that depth.

Well, well done for responding to microorganisms with colour.

Well done for completing this learning task.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about observing and recording microorganisms. Taking time to observe can help an artist to make their work more accurate.

An artist might observe pattern, line, tone and colour within an image.

And responding to an image might mean using what you have observed and making it your own, not copying it exactly.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.