# Changing the Typical Picture

## Overview
This chapter encourages students to observe and engage with nature in creative ways. Through activities like a nature walk, colour creation from natural materials, artistic exploration of textures, and observation-based drawing, learners understand how the environment can inspire visual art. It nurtures creativity, sensory awareness, and artistic expression using natural resources and traditional methods.

## Key Topics Covered

### 1. Nature Walk and Observation
- **Activity Goal**: To sharpen observational skills by stepping outdoors.
- **Instructions**:
- Observe colours in the sky, patterns in clouds.
- Feel and describe soil textures—smooth, rough, bumpy, grainy.
- Touch leaves, stems, barks, flowers—note their textures and draw them.
- Sketch leaves of different shapes and patterns.
- Observe birds, animals, or insects—try drawing their posture.
- **Extension**: Maintain a daily *Visual Journal* with sketches from your surroundings.

### 2. Field Trip to an Artistic Space
- **Suggested Locations**: Museum, artist’s studio, art exhibition.
- **Observational Questions**:
- What types of visual art are displayed?
- What materials and tools are used?
- Who are the artists and their techniques?
- How is the art displayed?
- What new ideas did you discover?

### 3. Making Natural Colours
- **Key Insight**: Before modern paints, artists used colours from food, plants, soil, stones.
- **Examples**:
- Turmeric adds yellow to food and can colour paper.
- Fruits, vegetables, flowers, roots, and soil can create colour stains.
- **Task**: List 5 natural items from your kitchen or garden that can produce colours when crushed.

### 4. Creating Artwork with Natural Colours
- **Steps to Follow**:
1. Collect raw material: soil, minerals, plants, roots.
2. Prepare colours with teacher and classmates.
3. Experiment with colour combinations.
4. Select colours for final artwork.
5. Paint your artwork using the prepared natural colours.
- **Display**: Showcase final artwork with labels describing materials and process.

- **Natural Colour Preparation**:
- **Step 1**: Collect raw colour sources (charcoal, flowers, etc.).
- **Step 2**: Crush and filter the material.
- **Step 3**: Mix with a binder (e.g., gum arabic, oil, milk, egg yolk).
- **Step 4**: Use this mixture as paint for artworks.

### 5. Understanding Tints and Shades
- **Concept**: Like moods, colours also vary in intensity.
- **Definitions**:
- **Tints**: Add white to a colour.
- **Shades**: Add black to a colour.
- **Activity**:
- Observe how sky colours change at sunrise/sunset.
- Create different tints and shades using water or poster colours.
- Make a colour mosaic using magazine cuttings.
- **Extension**: Find artworks showing these tints and shades. Write how each makes you feel.

### 6. Surfaces and Materials Used by Artists

- **Learning Objective**: Understand the variety of natural surfaces artists have used before paper was invented.
- **Traditional Surfaces**:
- Rocks, cave walls, mud plaster
- Palm leaves, wood, cloth, terracotta
- Animal bone, leather, fibre, metal
- **Activity**:
- Imagine not having paper—what surface would you choose?
- Try creating art on alternative materials like cloth, wood, or leaf.
- **Examples from History**:
- Bhimbetka (rock paintings)
- Ajanta caves (frescoes)
- Kolam (floor art with rice flour)
- Dry palm leaf scrolls
- Kalamkari art on fabric

### 7. My Inspirations from Nature

- **Goal**: Use your personal imagination to create unique art inspired by nature.
- **Instructions**:
- Think deeply about what part of nature inspires you.
- Use your own tools and chosen materials.
- Your art can reflect your nearby surroundings—not just mountains and rivers.
- Focus on your own viewpoint, emotions and daily experiences.

## New Terms and Simple Definitions

| Term | Definition |
|----------------|------------|
| Texture | The feel or appearance of a surface (e.g., smooth, rough) |
| Tint | A lighter version of a colour made by adding white |
| Shade | A darker version of a colour made by adding black |
| Binder | A substance that helps colours stick to a surface |
| Visual Journal | A book where artists sketch and record their observations daily |
| Pigment | Natural colour substance used to make paints |
| Fresco | A type of mural painting done on fresh plaster |
| Terracotta | Baked clay used to make pots or sculptures |
| Natural Dye | Colour obtained from plants, soil, or minerals |
| Kalamkari | Traditional Indian art on fabric using natural dyes |

## Practice Questions

### Easy (3)

1. **What is a visual journal?**
*Answer*: A notebook where we draw or record things we see in nature.

2. **How can you make yellow colour at home naturally?**
*Answer*: By using turmeric (haldi).

3. **What do we call the lighter version of a colour?**
*Answer*: Tint.

### Medium (2)

4. **List any three natural things that can give colour.**
*Answer*: Beetroot, turmeric, spinach.

5. **What do artists use as binders for natural colour?**
*Answer*: Gum arabic, milk, egg yolk, or oil.

### Difficult (3)

6. **How are tints and shades made?**
*Answer*: Tints are made by adding white to a colour; shades are made by adding black.

7. **Why do you think artists used leaves, walls or cloth in old times instead of paper?**
*Answer*: Because paper was not available then; they used materials from their surroundings.

8. **Describe the process of making natural colour using soil or plant parts.**
*Answer*: Crush the material, filter it, mix with binder like gum or milk, and use it to paint.

### Very Difficult (2)

9. **How do colour tints and shades affect the mood of an artwork? Give one example.**
*Answer*: Tints make a painting feel calm or light, while shades make it look deep or intense. For example, blue tint may feel peaceful, but blue shade may feel serious.

10. **What makes each artist’s work unique even if they all observe the same nature?**
*Answer*: Their personal imagination, choice of material, colour use, and how they interpret nature in their own way.

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