Teach With Flowers!

I have been teaching art classes for the last couple of months through the Blackfoot Art Center, and I have found that spring and summer flowers are perfect subjects for so many art projects! Whether drawing, painting, assembling, or taking photographs, there are innumerable ways to incorporate flowers and floral subjects. Here are some examples:

Drawing:
Students who are learning or practicing pure- or modified-contour drawing can greatly benefit from drawing a variety of complex flowers. Excellent subjects are irises, carnations, geraniums, and chrysanthemums. Then, as students begin to hone their volume drawing skills, roses exhibit overlapping patterns of light within their petals, lending themselves to great shading variations. Flowers energize and add interest to still life arrangments, too.

Painting:
Beginning and master painters alike are often attracted to floral subjects. Flowers contribute interesting shapes, textures, and color, whether painted as part of an arrangement in a vase, or plein-aire, directly in the garden. Even the youngest child enjoys painting colorful flowers. Whether using watercolors, poster paints, oils, temperas, or acrylics, flowers can be rendered in a striking and unique way.

Assemblages and Collage:
Floral subjects can be created from colorful magazine cuttings, construction paper, or tissue paper. Add dimension by cutting 1 to 1 1/2 inch circles of colored tissue paper, and placing the eraser end of a pencil in the center of each tissue circle. Twist the tissue edges up around the pencil. Using a glue stick, smudge some glue onto the collage, then press the tissue into the glue with the pencil before removing it. Glue several of these tissue "flowers" in clusters atop thin strips of green construction paper, maybe sprouting from a vase made from shapes randomly torn from magazine photos. A five-year-old can create these beautiful, 3-D tissue collage flowers!

Photography:
Flowers make irresistable photo subjects. The closer you can get, the better. My new digital camera has a macro mode, so I was able to get out and take some terrific floral photos (see the snapdragon, above). You may see colors and botanical structures in your resulting photos that you might not have noticed before. Photos can then be enlarged and framed, or used as resource material for drawings and paintings, student-produced field guides, creative writing, or botanical drawings for science projects.

While observing and enjoying the flowers of spring and summer, learn all you can about them. Did you know that calle lilies are not really flowers at all? These elegant funnel shapes are actually extensions of the stem, called the spathe. Did you know that delicate, six-petaled dendrobium orchids are actually exotic tropical flowers, or that the simple daisy is a popular wedding flower that represents hope, purity, and innocence? At DotFlowers.com, you can find out more about the lost language and meanings of flowers.

You can also find out more about plants and flowers at DotFlowers.com's Botanical Database. Flowers are listed alphabetically and also by the state in which they grow:

If you would like some great ideas for projects that use flowers (even faded ones - don't throw them away!) see DotFlowers.com's article archives, including Fun Floral Craft Ideas, Practical Uses for Flowers, and Flower Pressing Techniques.

Use flowers throughout your curriculum while they are available. If the flowers you need aren't available, remember you can always order them online at DotFlowers.com, where flower ordering and delivery are always easy and inexpensive.