Oil Pastels-Foreground, Middle Ground & Background

This activity was brought to life and we were instructed to create a picture inside a snow globe with oil pastels as it was snowing outside! Definately help make it feel like we were actually in a snow globe! First, the class practiced working with oil pastels to shade and blend colors together. Once we had enough practice, we traced circles to be the outline for our snowglobe. We could create any scene that was important to use, we just needed to try include an object that was the foreground, an object in the middle ground and an object in the background. Foreground is the object that appears closest in the picture. My foreground object is the Christmas tree. The middle ground, which is what appears in the middle of the scene, is the fireplace. Finally, the background, the object farthest away, is the tiny pictures on the wall. I chose this scene as this depicts the living at my home at Christmas.

An extension activity that could be done with this is researching and learning about artist who do an excellent job of creating a scene with foreground, middle ground and background. For instance, Terry Redlin. Then, if possible, a field trip could be taken to his art Museum to see in person his pictures using foreground, middle ground and background.