Exploring Colour and Style

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Overview

Year Level: Year 3
Subject: Visual Arts
Duration: 30 minutes
Unit Title: Abstract Bushland Art – Lesson 2 of 3
Lesson Title: Colour Mixing and Abstract Techniques
Class Size: 25 students

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Australian Curriculum Alignment

Learning Area: The Arts – Visual Arts
Year Level: Year 3

Content Descriptions (Australian Curriculum – ACARA):

• ACAVAM111: Use materials, techniques and processes to explore visual conventions when making artworks.
• ACAVAR113: Present artworks and describe how they have used visual conventions to represent their ideas.

General Capabilities:

• Critical and Creative Thinking
• Personal and Social Capability

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Learning Intentions

By the end of this lesson, students will:

• Understand and apply basic colour mixing techniques to create a bushland-inspired palette.
• Experiment with abstract painting methods such as splattering, layering, and brushstroke variation.
• Create a small practice piece that reflects their understanding of Australian bushland colours in an abstract style.

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Success Criteria

Students can:
✅ Create secondary colours by mixing primary colours thoughtfully.
✅ Experiment with two or more abstract painting techniques.
✅ Apply their personalised bushland colour palette in a sample abstract piece.

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Resources and Materials

• Student sketchbooks (from Lesson 1)
• Acrylic paints: red, yellow, blue, black, white, and brown
• Mixing palettes or paper plates
• Water jars and brushes
• Cotton buds, sponges, old toothbrushes (for splattering)
• A3 cartridge paper (1 per student)
• Aprons or old shirts
• Visual reference board: Images of Australian bushland during different seasons
• Paper towel or rags
• Teacher’s demonstration paper and brushes

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Preparation Before Class

• Set up painting stations with shared materials per 5 students.
• Display real-life bushland images – both realistic and abstract art representations (preferably featuring Australian landscapes).
• Label colour mixing trays and prep mixing samples for demonstration.
• Ensure that protective coverings are on all tables.

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Lesson Sequence

1. Introduction & Warm-Up (5 minutes)

• Gather students on the floor as a group.
• Quick re-cap of Lesson 1: “What kind of plants, colours, and shapes did you observe in the bushland sketches we made?”
• Introduce today’s focus: “We’re going to take your observations and play with COLOUR and STYLE. There’s no 'right way'—you’re the artist!”

Thinking Prompt: “What colours can we see in the bush in early morning? Drought? Rainy season? Let’s think beyond green!”

• Show the visual reference board and point out unexpected colours in the bush: dusky pinks, silvers, deep purples, ochres, oranges.

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2. Teacher Demonstration (5 minutes)

• Colour Mixing: Use red, yellow, and blue on a palette. Show how to create browns and greens by combining colours. Introduce tinting (adding white) and shading (adding black or complementary colours).
• Abstract Techniques:
  • Sponge dabbing to create textured bark or lichen look.
  • Splattering with toothbrush or cotton buds for scattered leaves/gumnuts.
  • Layering with dry brush technique for transparency effects (e.g. mist/fog).
  • Emphasise freedom in abstract art—artists don’t have to paint what they see, but what they feel.

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3. Student Activity – Practice Painting (15 minutes)

• Students return to desks with access to materials.
• Task: Create a small abstract painting using 3–5 colours mixed to reflect their idea of the bushland.
  • Encourage use of at least two of the demonstrated techniques.
  • Remind students to focus on how colours work together—blending, contrast, layering.
  • Let students explore drying time for layering—what happens if the first layer is still wet?

Tip for managing movement: Assign ‘paint monitors’ in each group responsible for sharing palettes and getting clean water.

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4. Reflection and Clean Up (5 minutes)

• Students stand behind their desks while the teacher walks them through short reflection prompts:

  • “Raise your hand if you discovered a new colour today.”
  • “What technique did you like most—splatter, sponge, or layering?”
  • “What story does your painting tell about the bushland?”

• Students place their artwork on designated drying racks.

• Group clean up: materials into tubs, wipe tables, aprons off.

• Teacher to quickly photograph several pieces for a gallery wall or digital reflection later.

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Differentiation Strategies

• Extension: Students who complete early may experiment with metallic or contrasting accent colours (e.g. using sticks or leaves to stamp shapes).
• Support: Provide pre-mixed secondary colours for students who struggle with black/white blending.
• Use of visual aids and whispered 1:1 prompts for EAL/D and neurodiverse learners.

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Assessment (Informal)

• Observation of student engagement and participation.
• Look for application of mixing techniques and at least two abstract methods in student work.
• Listening to student reflection responses for evidence of critical and creative thinking.

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Teacher Notes & Next Steps

🔜 Next Lesson (Lesson 3): Students will plan and create their final bushland-inspired abstract painting using their personalised palette and preferred techniques.

For formative assessment, consider collecting student vocabulary from this lesson for the class art word wall:

• Splatter
• Layering
• Tint
• Shade
• Abstract
• Texture
• Palette

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Quick Teacher Tip 🌱

Encourage students to give their colours names—“wombat brown”, “sunset orange”, “misty eucalypt”—to build connection and descriptive language!

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Final Thought from the Artists

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” – Edgar Degas

Let your students see the bush through emotion, memory, and the colours they feel.

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Prepared by Educational AI Assistant – Aligned to ACARA and designed to wow the curious minds of Year 3 artists across Australia.