Poppies
Symbolism of poppies has long history of life, death and renewal. The seeds remain
dormant under
Ground for years until disturbed and then they flower.
Vincent Van Gogh (Post-Impressionist)
Claude Monet
(French Impressionist)
Georgia O’Keefe (American Abstract)
Henri Matisse
Shape:
Symmetrical, long, thin, positive,
negative organic/irregular
Colour:
Warm, cool, complementary, tone, contrasting
Line:
Overlapping , irregular, uneven, long, winding, meandering, direction,
movement
Texture:
Shinny, sparkly
Skills:
Observational, seeing, noticing
Principles of design: repetition, variety, movement, contrast, unity, balance.
Techniques: overlapping, patterns, colour mixing, collage, mixed media, screen printing,
cropping
Poppies
 View, discuss and interpret images of Poppies by a variety of artists.
 Discuss symbolism of red poppy.
 Have screen printed or patterned or painted paper ready for folding in half (about
A5)
 Demonstrate different ways of cutting out a symmetrical vase.
 Glue vase onto paper just a little above the edge of paper and a little off centre.
 Demonstrate drawing an irregular/organic line (stem), drawing slowly as if it is
growing slowly (soft music helps)
 Make it a double line and then draw another stem overlapping the first one to
show that some are behind and in front of each other, some going in different
directions and have different lengths to give a sense of movement and variety.
 At end of line (stem) draw a small circle surrounded by larger one, then draw 5
similar size petals (love heart shape if want)
 Colour with oil pastel and Crayola sticks , looking at blending different tones in the
green (mix blue and yellow in) for the stem and orange and red in petals (red near
centre to give sense of depth) purple in circles in middle.
 Draw horizontal or diagonal table line 1/3 way up vase and colour table in, perhaps
repeating the purples/red that are in the flowers.
 Wash across the flowers and stems in cool colours to contrast with the warm reds.
Collaged Poppy
 Have Eric Carle style paper or paper of different tones of red/warm colours.
 Have paper of different tones of green paper ready (children could collaborate with
blue and yellow paint to colour mix on large piece of paper).
 Demonstrate cutting a long, thin piece of green paper and glue it down on white
paper.
 Demonstrate cutting out love heart shapes in similar sizes and arrange in a radial
pattern. Glue at end of long, thin green line.
 Draw in circle in centre with marker or cut out dark purple, shinny sparkly paper for
contrast in the centre of the flower.
Abstract Poppy
 View and discuss Georgia O’Keeffe’s Red Poppy and other flowers she has painted in
close up. Talk about zooming in, enlarging and cropping.
 Give students a colour copy of a large red poppy.
 Use a view finder to move across image until an interesting composition is found
(one with strong contrasts) Draw around the edges of the view finder and cut out.
 On a piece of watercolour paper cut to size, make a grid of thirds (3 lines x
horizontally and 3x vertically) very softly and lightly in light coloured watercolour
pencil. Then make a grid across the cut out section of the flower.
 Demonstrate how to draw what you see (turn it upside down) taking particular notice
of tonal value and its subtle changes. Positive and negative shapes can make it more
interesting.
 Shading and blending techniques could be practiced and demonstrated before hand.
 Once whole piece of paper has been coloured, gently use a water colour brush and
water to turn each section into a painting, avoiding just brushing the whole
composition with a wet brush as all the tonal changes and colours will be lost.
 The term appropriation applies if using Georgia O’Keefe’s Red Poppy for children to
find a section to cut out to and then enlarge create their own abstract painting,
 Roll light blue paint across canvas at top going down to
Yellow brown at bottom.
bottom of canvas. Red,
 Stipple soft irregular shapes in very light tones of blue for clouds
 Use different size brushes to stipple, starting 2/3 or way up canvas creating an
irregular/organic line across the canvas to represent mountains in the distance. Dark
tones will give a sense of depth and distance. Different brushes will give a variety of
marks.
 Work your way down the canvas, with each row of stippling done in a slightly lighter
tone.
 When nearing the bottom of canvas, dab, stipple and flick light orange/red/browns
to create the foreground. Warm lighter colours will appear to come toward the
viewer. Dark, cooler colours will recede.
 When the canvas is dry, dot masses of dots close together with Posca markers to
represent flowers in distance.
 Children to cut out 5 similar size petals or love hearts and bring to canvas, place a dot
of dark coloured glue to mark the centre of the poppy and then arrange petals
around the glue making sure the smallest part of the petal is in glue.
 When finished get a couple of children to draw or collage some green stems.
Materials for poppies
Patterned paper Cut into A5 or smaller.
White A4 paper
Glue
Scissors
Oil pastels
Oil Crayola sticks
Fine black markers
Coloured pencils.
Materials for Screen printing:
Irregular/organic shapes cut out shapes
Glitter paper
Screens and squeegee
Paint.
Materials for Collaborative Canvas.
Canvas
Paint,
Brushes, sponges, mark making tools
Coloured red/orange paper
Posca markers
Glue
Petal or heart shape templates for petals
Materials for watercolour poppies:
Good cartridge paper or even better watercolour paper
Fine black permanent markers
Watercolour pencils
Watercolour brushes
Pots of water
Tissues or paper towels
Patterned paper
Glue
Scissors
Materials for collage poppies.
Scissors
Glue
Coloured paper/Eric Carle style paper
Materials for Abstract Poppy
View finders
Water colour paper
Watercolour pencils
Watercolour paint
Watercolour or fine brushes
Rulers
Large coloured images of poppies for each child
Georgia O'Keeffe
Henri Matisse
Vincent Van Gogh
Claude Monet
Eric Carle