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Watercolour heart painting lesson handout

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I was massively inspired by the recent exhibition of work by Olafur Eliasson at the Tate in London. Ever since visiting, I have been pondering on how to introduce students to his work. With Valentines day just around the corner, I’ve come up with a fun and simple watercolour heart painting lesson handout.

Olafur Eliasson inspired heart

This year Valentine’s Day falls on the same day as the Youth Strike for Climate in the UK. So this lesson, as well as celebrating Valentine’s Day, takes inspiration from Eliasson’s practice and draws attention to the issue of Climate Change.

In the lesson, students learn about various watercolour techniques before creating their own abstract heart painting. I’ve included a full introduction on Olafur Eliasson. Plus the the activity is linked to his beautiful melting glacier ice paintings.

I love teaching students watercolour techniques. And this lesson is a great way to introduce a few different ways to use this material. You could even try melting ice as part of the painting process if you have the facilities!

In addition to the main activities, I have included a word search to recap key vocabulary. This also comes in handy for early-finishers or if you need a tidy-up task.

The lesson also asks students to annotate their painting sample sheet. I find it is good practice to get them evaluating their work as they go along. I have a couple of other resources which can help with annotation which you can find here.

Olafur Eliasson valentine's art lesson climate change

To download the resource for £2.50 click on the image above. You can see all the details for this resource and others based on artists in my store here.

Feeling inspired to do more Valentine’s Day art?

You can check out this Jim Dine inspired post. I have created a full lesson presentation to download. And the finished tissue paper artwork makes a fantastic display!

Looking for more artist-linked resources?

Or perhaps you are keen to promote more artists concerned with the natural environment? You may find resources to help in this blog post on artists inspired by nature.