For the abstract color wheel assignment this year, we added a twist; while learning how to mix all the colors of the color wheel they also had to convey an emotion through the painting. Students learned the emotional connect between colors and emotion, the main focus was on happy (yellow, yellow-orange, yellow-green), sad (blue, blue-violet, violet, blue-green, red-violet), and angry (red, red-orange, orange). Students choose an emotion first and then depicted the emotion either through recognizable images, or as expressive design elements (shapes), or both.
Example of an expressive design for angry.
Example of a recognizable image for happy.
After the design was drawn out, students learned about the families of color on the color wheel (primary, secondary, and tertiary/intermediate). Painting began with yellow, orange, yellow-orange, red-orange, and red. The colors did not have to be in the correct order of the actual color wheel. Students were challenged to think about the emotion they were trying to covey and to use those emotional colors predominantly to help express the emotion both through design and through color.
Example of a happy expressive design after the first day of painting.
Next, students learned how to mix and used blue, green, blue-green, and yellow-green.
Example of a sad expressive design after the second day of painting.
Last, students learned how to mix and use violet, red-violet, and blue-violet.
Example of a finished angry abstracted color wheel.
Example of a finished sad abstracted color wheel.
Example of a finished happy abstracted color wheel.
