LITERATURE ON ART
(from the book "Secrets of the Heart"
by A.Lopatina and M.Skrebstova)
THE COLOURS OF DAWN
The new felt-tip pens would declare proudly:
- Pencils and paints may be dark or light, but we are always bright!
- What bright colours!- the girl was overcome while she was drawing a vase with flowers.
- An astonishingly bright bouquet!- was the verdict of Mom and Dad as they looked at their daughter's picture.
The pencils lying in the box on the table were the only ones not to share their joy. They felt sad. The girl used to draw with the pencils quite often, but now she forgot about them. The blue pencil had dropped down and was lying in the dust under the table. The green one got broken, and the yellow one lost its sharp point.
One day the girl came back from school agita ted.
- Mom, we were told to draw the sky at dawn. Please set the alarm-clock, I'll have to get up before sunrise.
It's not an easy thing to get up at 5 in the morning, but when the girl threw the window open, she gave a cry of delight. The sky's smile was all in soft blue, greenish and the lightest of pink. The girl picked the pink, blue and light green felt-tip pens and took her place by the window. But the picture came out not to her liking. She started all over, but once again the colours were too bright. The girl tried drawing with different strokes, but they all disappointed her.
The girl yawned, rested her head on her arms and… fell asleep. It was her Mom's voice that woke her up.
- Dear, these are the colours of a true artist!
The girl came up to the table and gasped. A pencilled sky was smiling at her from the picture, all soft blue, tender green and the lightest of pink. The newly-sharpened pencils were scattered around.
- Thank you so much, my dear pencils! I will never forget about you any more,- the girl said, putting the pencils back into their box lovingly.
Questions and tasks:
• Who do you think drew the sky and sharpened the pencils?
• What views of nature would you draw with felt-tip pens and what views with pencils?
• Gather all your pencils together, see that they are in a proper condition and find a worthy place for them.
• If pencils could speak, what advice would they give to people?
• Do you prefer to draw with hard or soft pencils? Why?
• Is a felt-tip pen a good replacement of a pencil?
• Do you like to draw with felt-tip pens?
• Tell what pencils or felt-tip pens would you like to have?
THE WATERCOLOUR FAIRY
There lived a mother and her daughter in a small house with a garden. The flowers in their garden were the most beautiful in the town. The girl was out in the garden to tend to the flowers before daybreak. Soon she got acquainted with the flower fairy and learne d to understand her language.
Then her mother fell ill; the illness required a costly and lengthy treatment. The girl had to sell her favourite house with the garden and move into a garret. “We'll put Mother back on her feet again soon. That's the main thing now. Then we'll earn the money to buy our house back”- this is what she told herself in consolation.
- Good-bye, my flowers, and you, dear Fairy. I won't be here any more to listen to your songs at daybreak,- said the girl for the last time.
- If you don't want to part with your flowers, take seven pots and plant seven different flowers. The window of your garret gives onto the roof. You can make a tiny garden there, and I'll be coming there to see you,- the flower fairy suggested.
The girl did so. The flowers were getting along fine, and the fairy came to her at daybreak again.
A painter had lived in this garret before them. He had gone abroad, leaving some brushes, paper and a little paint behind. One day the girl tried to paint her flowers.
The fairy flew in and, seeing her picture, clapped her hands in joy.
- What beautiful flowers!- she exclaimed.
- What are you talking about, my dear fairy? I miss my garden so much. I can't find work. My seven flowers are not enough to make bouquets and sell them.
- You can paint flowers and sell your pictures,- pointed out the fairy.
- I'm out of paint. Moreover, painted flowers cannot be compared with live ones. People don't have paints that can depict the soft and delicate hues of live flowers.
- People don't,- the fairy smiled,- but flowers do.
The fairy picked up a clean glass jar, brought it close to a red poppy, touched it gently with her magic wand and bent the flower-cup a little. In an instant the jar was filled with red paint. The fairy did the same with the other flowers.
- Now you have the softest-coloured paints on the earth,- announced the fairy handing the jars over to the girl.- This paint is made with dew and you dilute it with water. But don't expose your pictures to rain – it will wash off the paints.
The fairy flew away, and the girl set about painting. She worked enthusiastically, and soon she had the tenderest of pansies on the canvas. They looked just like live ones.
The girl wrapped up her picture and took it to the Art Shop.
- We sell only works of recognised masters,- told the shop owner to the girl, without bothering to look at the picture once.
- What soft hues! How much do you want for the picture?- broke in a customer who chanced to catch a glimpse of the picture.
- I am the one who sells stuff here,- intervened the shop owner and snatched the picture from the girl.
- By the way, where did you come by these paints?- he wanted to know.
- The flower fairy, the kind Watercolour, gave them to me,- whispered the girl in bewilderment (Watercolour being the name of the fairy).
- Bring me your watercolour paints, I'll give you a good price for them,- said the shop owner.
A year passed. Mother, admiring her daughter's new picture of a bunch of chrysanthemums, smiled:
- I couldn't say for the life of me which chrysanthemums are softer – the ones in our garden or the ones on your watercolour!
Questions and tasks:
• How would the flowers in pictures look different if the artists who painted them had grown the flowers themselves?
• What colours do you think can be seen only at daybreak?
• What watercolour colours and shades are best to reveal the nature of that kind of paint?
Imagine you are talking to watercolours. What answers would they give you to the following questions:
• What are you made of?
• What things are your friends and what things are not?
• What scenes in the world around are the easiest for you to depict?
• Are you friendly with other kinds of paint?
• In what way are you different from them?
Give out to children cards with pictures of different objects, phenomena, creatures, etc. Each of the children will have to tell how the appearance of each object would change if it were painted in watercolour.
E.g. The table will look airy, the man – fragile, the sky – light.
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previous story about art and paintings
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