Art Room Britt: Ted Harrison Canadian Landscapes

I was so excited to finally do this project with all my classes (6-7 year olds, 8-13 year olds, and adult class). I love Ted Harrison's landscapes. The simplified, reduced shapes are accessible to all age groups, while the movement and dancing line work keeps things exciting and lively. And of course his use of tints and shades are a great opportunity for students to get to know the potential of a limited palette.

Ted Harrison Canadian Yukon landscapes

Discussion: To begin, we looked at plenty of Harrison paintings and discussed the geography and landscape which inspired these beautiful paintings. We then deconstructed his work, identifying the qualities of line, color, brush work and composition. Even my youngest students noticed that there is no texture, that there are no visible brush strokes, and that his palette is limited but extended by making tints (proud teacher moment). We noticed that Harrison barely and rarely uses green, and if, then a light tint only for emphasis (in a sweater, a window frame, a smoke cloud). We discussed the 'rule of thirds' (foreground, middle ground, background) and that his use of line is varied (horizontal lines are balanced by vertical lines; wavier lines contrast with by straighter lines, but there are no truly straight lines; lines go this way and that way, to keep the eye engaged). Last but not least, we noticed that Harrison outlines all his shapes and details in colored lines, sometimes in contrasting colors, sometimes in similar colors.

Students were asked to create their own original Harrison-inspired landscape incorporating all the elements discussed. Must have foreground with house, people and/or animals; must have middle ground with mountains or water, preferably layers or multiple levels of these; must have background with sky and moon/sun incorporating movement through the use of line. I had students think about what kind of day or scene they wanted to depict. Was is stormy? Windy, Calm? Sunset? Sunrise? This helped them decide on line and color choice.

Tints: We focussed on mixing tints for this project. Some kids also mixed shades for darker values, but for the most part, out starting point was working from hues to tints. To stay true to Harrison, students chose a limited palette of primaries and purples and extended their palette with white. Tints of lime green or turquoise were used for emphasis or contrast.

I'm a stickler for craftsmanship. This is why I decided to have my students use acrylic paint pens to outline our shapes. Harrison's outlining is neat, bold and an essential element to the overall look of his work. Knowing that this detail is what makes or breaks a Harrison piece, I knew we had to do it right. They worked so hard to create that flat color application with subtle shifts in value, I knew that offering them paint pens (as opposed to painting with a brush) would allow them to continue to experience success in mimicking Harrison's style. This came in especially handy when adding outlines and details to our animals, people and houses.

Tints in progress

Day one, tints in sky

Work in progress, 6-7 year olds

Work in progress, 8-13 year olds

Adding our details

Border: To mimic Harrison's border, we taped our edges with artist tape before painting, and when finished, we ran a blue, dark blue or black paint pen along the inside edge of our tape to 'frame' our painting. Once the tape was removed, we had a crisp white border with a colored border frame. It's all in the details!