Purple Cat, What Do You See? - Planning and Creating

1st grade made beautiful dog and cat portraits after reading Eric Carle's, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?" After reading the story, they learned about Carle's process of illustration. Before drawing, he paints the colors and textures for his characters. Next, he cuts out the shapes of the characters from his painted colors and textures. Finally, he draws or paints on details, like facial features. 1st grade students followed these steps to transform materials into the scene from the story when the purple cat sees a white dog looking at him. Throughout each step of the creative process, students had to envision the end product. Because artists typically draw shapes and then color them in, it was a unique challenge to instead begin with creating the colors and textures for characters prior to drawing out any shapes.

Tip of the hat to 1st grade, for accomplishing these beautiful animal characters. A 4th grade mountain landscape painting was used for the background in photographing these animals.

This lesson was initially written to teach:

Colorado Department of Educations 2020 Visual Arts, 1st Grade, Standard 2. Envision and Critique to Reflect, Grade Level Expectation 1. Question and respond to the stories told and the feelings expressed in works of visual art and design. Evidence Outcome: b. Students can envision the potential of a material to be transformed to tell a story.

For other age groups, this focuses on the following CDE 2020 Visual Arts Standards:

Kindergarten, Standard 1. Observe and Learn to Comprehend, Grade Level Expectation:1. Identify how artists use visual art and design to communicate. Evidence Outcome a. Recognize that visual art and design can tell stories.

Fourth Grade, Standard 1. Observe and Learn to Comprehend, Grade Level Expectation:1. Uncover how artistic intent can be enhanced through the use of the language of visual art and design.Evidence Outcome a. Hypothesize the steps an artist may have used to complete a work of visual art or design.

Fifth Grade, Standard 2. Envision and Critique to Reflect, Grade Level Expectation:2. Visualize intended meaning and determine a method of planning that best supports personal artmaking. Evidence Outcome b. Identify various methods of planning for visual art and design.