What do John Mallord, William Turner, Winslow Homer, Fredrick Church, and Thomas Cole have in common? Their masterful use of aerial perspective! With examples dating as early as 30 B.C., aerial perspective is a technique that creates depth in an art piece. By giving objects that are further away from the viewer less contrast, detail, and saturated color than objects that are at the forefront of a scene and making the distant objects bluer, a landscape appears to have dimension and depth.
Leonardo DaVinci referred to this magical technique as ‘the perspective of disappearance’ and used it on both the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. Now you can share this time-honored technique with your students, using our downloadable Atmospheric Landscapes art lesson developed by our Sax Art Consultants.
With this project, students will learn to use aerial perspective and layering to add dimension to their work. Using a variety of mediums, including acrylics, acrylic inks, markers, gloss, and matte medium, as well as various brush strokes and palette knife applications, students will create the illusion of depth and transparency, bringing their pieces to life in amazing 3-D.
Download a complete lesson plan for this project, including images, step-by-step directions, and a materials list today!
For Grades 9-12.
What tips do you have for teaching perspective and dimension?
