st. basilÕs cathedralart/st.+… · cathedral with a variety of details and patterns. • today i...

DEEP SPACE5th

Geography and Math Connections

St. Basil’s Cathedral

©DEEPSPACESPARKLE/PATTY PALMER 2016. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED www.deepspacesparkle.com �2

This lesson combines a higher level drawing

technique with an easy-to-achieve watercolor

resist technique. Drawing St. Basil’s Cathedral

can be tedious but if you can teach the children

how to draw a dome and create over-lapping

structures, most all children will be successful.

About St. Basil’s Cathedral: This structure is in

the center of Moscow. The ten churches are

shaped as a flame or bonfire rising in the sky. The

buildings are constructed from red brick and

used as a decorative medium both inside and

out. There are no religious symbolism in the

building. The colors are said to be inspired by

the Heavenly City as described in the Book of

Revelation.

SUPPLIES 1 piece of 12” x 9” 90 lb

watercolor paper

Black waterproof marker

Pan Watercolor Paint

Metallic or regular crayons, including white

Brushes and Water containers

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You can use pencil and then

trace over with marker but

you’ll want to add an extra

class session or maybe even

two to achieve this. Instead, try

drawing with just a marker. Using a marker to draw helps

children problem-solve by

coming up with creative

solutions to fix their

“mistakes”.

The idea is to start at the bottom and create 3-4 buildings of various heights. Then, create the

next layer of buildings

behind the first.

Using crayons, draw over

black marker lines. This does

two things: adds extra color to emphasize predominant structures and provides a much needed “barrier” to

prevent the watercolor paint

from bleeding.

There is also something

about crayons that make

children relax into a project.

Maybe it’s the smell or the

feel, but whatever it is, children love crayons. I have packs of metallic crayons that I rarely use,

but were perfect for this project. Simply trace over, add or embellish any lines that you wish.

Some children used only white crayon which really created an interesting piece.

The Drawing



I used liquid watercolor paints for this project as they seemed easy, but there would be no

reason not to use pan watercolors. Had the children not outlined their buildings with crayon,

the painting would have taken along time to complete. With the added “wall” of crayon,

watercolor paints were applied right up to the crayon edge and the children didn’t have to

wait for any parts to dry before painting a new part.

The benefit of adding the black marker is that the piece looks like a line drawing but it is

achieved without the skill set needed.



Drawing St. Basils

To draw the columns, begin by drawing 4 sets of lines along the bottom of the paper.

Make some lines farther apart than others. Connect two lines at the top with either a dome,

rectangle or square. Finish each column by adding layers of details. Some columns are topped

by a rounded-off rectangle and an onion dome while other columns look more traditional.

Show plenty of examples and have the children create their own columns.



The next layer of columns are drawn behind the first. I like to ask the children to create

lots of details with their first layer of columns and then the ones set behind are bigger

with less detail.

Onion domes have lots of round details like scalloped edges, crosses and brick details.

Drawing St. Basils



Grade five st. basil’s


CREATING Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work — combine ideas to generate an

innovative idea—demonstrate diverse methods to approaching art making

Organize and develop artistic ideas and work — experiment and develop skills in multiple

techniques through practice—show craftsmanship through care—document objects of

personal significance

Refine and complete artistic work—create artists statements using art vocabulary to

describe personal choices in art-making

Presenting/producing Analyze, interpret and select artistic work for presentation— define roles and

responsibilities of a curator—explaining the skills/knowledge needed to preform curation

Develop and refine artistic work for presentation — develop a logical argument for safe

and effective use of materials and techniques for preparing and presenting artwork

Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work —cite evidence of how an

exhibition in a museum presents ideas and provides information about specific concepts

Responding Perceive and analyze artistic work- compare interpretation of art to another’s interpretation

—analyze cultural associations suggested by visual imagery Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work — interpret art by analyzing form, structure,

context information, subject, visual elements, and use of media to identify mood and ideas

conveyed

Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work— recognize differences in criteria used to evaluate

works of art depending on styles

Connecting Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art- apply formal and

conceptual vocabularies of art and design to view surroundings in new ways through art-

making

Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural and historical context to deepen understanding

NATIONAL CORE ARTS STANDARDS-fifth grade

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X


CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.5 Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, sound) and visual displays in presentations when appropriate to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.

By having students create a work of art inspired by St. Basil’s Cathedral in Russia, they are visually developing the main ideas they learned from this style of architecture by drawing a rendering of the cathedral, but also by adding their own creative details.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.

As students complete an artist statement (page 10), they are supporting claims about what their artwork means. This requires them to build their answer based on how they created the work as evidence pointing toward the composition’s meaning.

CCSS.Math.Content.5.G.B.3 Understand that attributes belonging to a category of two-dimensional figures also belong to all subcategories of that category. For example, all rectangles have four right angles and squares are rectangles, so all squares have four right angles.

Through the use of geometric shapes to create their buildings for their cathedrals, you can ask students to identify similar attributes among the shapes they drew such as, “What do the rectangles and squares have in common that we used in our art?”

• Today I will learn about LINE and SHAPE, so that I CAN use these elements to draw St. Basil’s Cathedral with a variety of details and patterns.

• Today I will learn about OVERLAPPING, so that I CAN create the illusion of space by drawing structures that appear to be in front of or behind others.

• Today I will learn about WATERCOLOR RESIST, so that I CAN paint over my crayon marks having them be revealed underneath the paint effectively.

I can statements for st. basil’s

common core standards for st. basil’s


©DEEPSPACESPARKLE/PATTY PALMER 2016. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED www.deepspacesparkle.com�10

WHAT IS THE NAME OF YOUR ARTWORK?

HOW DID YOU CREATE YOUR ARTWORK? (What tools, supplies and techniques did you use?)

WHAT DOES THIS PIECE OF ART MEAN TO YOU? (You can use “I” statements and talk about your inspiration and what creating

this piece of art means to you)

Artist StatementYour name


D E E P S P A C E S P A R K L E & T H E M E M B E R S C L U B

ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST

Student Name:

Did the student draw a cathedral with overlapping buildings inspired by St. Basil’s in Moscow?

Did the student decorate their buildings with different patterns?

Did the student paint their drawing with multiple bright colors of watercolor?

Main Ideas from:

ST. BASIL’S CATHEDRAL

WATERCOLOR

st. basilÕs cathedralart/st.+… · cathedral with a variety of details and patterns. • today i...

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