Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term v5 - Grade 2

Lesson Video

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Performance objectives

• Name different types of textures like smooth and rough.
• Create your own artwork showing different textures.
• Find and talk about textures in the world around you.
• Use materials like crayons and pencils to make textures.

Lesson summary

This week in Creative Arts, we will be exploring the fascinating world of texture in art and design. Texture is all about how things feel or look like they feel. We can't always touch a picture, but artists use different techniques to make things look rough, smooth, bumpy, or even soft. Understanding texture helps us appreciate art more and allows us to create our own amazing artworks that tell a story through how they look! This is important in South Africa because we see texture everywhere, from the corrugated iron roofs in our townships to the smooth bark of a baobab tree, or the woven patterns in our traditional fabrics.

Lesson notes

What is Texture? Texture refers to the surface quality of an object – how it feels, or how it looks like it feels. There are two main types of texture in art: Actual Texture: This is texture you can feel when you touch something. Think of the rough bark of a tree, the smooth surface of a painted wall, or the bumpy skin of an orange.

Visual Texture (Implied Texture): This is texture that you can see in a picture, but you can’t actually feel it. Artists use different techniques to create the illusion of texture on a flat surface. We are focusing on visual texture this week.

Techniques to Create Visual Texture: Lines: Different types of lines can create the illusion of texture. Short, broken lines might look like rough grass. Long, wavy lines can look like flowing water. Thick, dark lines might look like cracks in a rock.

Dots (Stippling): Adding lots of tiny dots close together can create a bumpy, rough texture.

Rubbing: Placing paper over a textured surface and rubbing a crayon or pencil across it creates a print of the texture. Think of placing a paper over a coin and rubbing with a crayon to reveal the queen’s face.

Layering: Overlapping different colours and shapes can suggest depth and texture.

Smudging: Smudging pencil or crayon marks can create a soft, blurry texture, like fur or mist.

Examples: Rough Bark: Imagine drawing the bark of a tree. You wouldn't just draw a straight line! You would use short, irregular lines, little dots and maybe even some smudges to show the rough texture of the bark. Think of the bark on a thorn tree in the South African bushveld.

Smooth Skin: To draw smooth skin, like on a baby's face, you would use very light, gentle shading, with no harsh lines. You would try to create a soft, even tone.

Corrugated Iron Roof: Many houses in South Africa have corrugated iron roofs. To draw this texture, you could use many straight, parallel lines. Varying the darkness of the lines creates a sense of depth and mimics the texture of the iron.

Animal Fur: You could create the illusion of fur by drawing lots of short, close together, curved lines going in different directions. You might also use a smudging technique to soften the lines. Think of how a sheep's fleece or the coat of a Nguni cow might look.

Woven Basket: You can create the appearance of a woven basket by drawing intersecting lines that overlap. Varying the thickness and darkness of lines can create the illusion of depth and texture. Think of the baskets sold at many roadside stalls in South Africa. Guided Practice (With Solutions)

Question 1: Draw a simple picture of an apple. Use lines and shading to make the apple look smooth and shiny.

Solution: Start with the basic shape of an apple (a circle with a slight indent at the top). Use light, gentle shading on most of the apple. Avoid harsh lines. Add a small area of brighter white to represent the shine. Use smooth, curving lines to define the edges of the apple. Consider adding a very faint shadow underneath the apple to ground it.

Commentary: The solution emphasizes smooth lines and gentle shading to create the visual illusion of a smooth, shiny surface. This is appropriate because apples are typically smooth.

Question 2: Draw a simple picture of a brick wall. Use lines to create the illusion of a rough, textured surface.

Solution: Draw a series of rectangles to represent the bricks. Use short, broken lines to represent the rough edges of each brick. Add small dots or dashes on the surface of the bricks to simulate the texture of the brick. Make the lines between the bricks thicker and darker than the lines on the surface of the bricks. You can also vary the colour and shading slightly between bricks to add to the effect.

Commentary: Using broken lines and dots creates the illusion of a rough, uneven surface. Thick, dark lines between bricks emphasize the structure of the wall.

Question 3: Using the rubbing technique, create a textured artwork. Find a leaf, a coin, or some other textured object. Place paper over the object and rub a crayon or pencil across the paper. What texture do you see?

Solution: Learners would place a piece of paper over the object. Holding the paper firmly, rub the crayon or pencil on its side across the paper. The texture of the object underneath will start to appear on the paper. The texture they see will match the object underneath (e.g., the veins of a leaf, the pattern of a coin).

Commentary: This is a hands-on activity that allows learners to directly experience how texture can be transferred onto paper. The result is a visual representation of a tactile experience. Independent Practice (Questions Only) Draw a picture of a grassy field. Use lines to make the grass look rough and uneven. Draw a picture of water. Use wavy lines to make the water look smooth and flowing. Draw a picture of a bumpy road. Use dots and uneven lines to create the texture of the road. Collect different leaves and create a collage.