Winter Moves

Your imagination gets moving when you look at the photography of Eadweard Muybridge. Create an original painting of your body in motion in the cold, wintry outdoors.

• 1.

  If possible, go outside with your classmates and run down hills or slide down a sliding board. Observe what happens. Make a video recording. How does the wind feel? What does it do to your hair and clothing? Where does the wind come from? Discuss wind currents and their formation, as well as the concepts of momentum and friction.

• 2.

  If you were going to draw yourself running, skiing, or sliding, how would you show motion? What hints could you give a viewer of your painting that your subjects were moving? Observe Eadweard Muybridge's photography and/or slow down a video so you can look at individual frames. Notice the small, but consistent, changes that occur from one frame to the next. How does the human eye see these continuous frames as a moving picture? Notice the blurring of detail in quickly moving objects when you speed up the images.

• 3.

  Cover a work area with recycled newspaper. On construction paper, use Crayola® Crayons to draw a winter scene of a person in action--sliding, skating, skiing, snowboarding.

• 4.

  Use Crayola Washable Paints and Paint Brushes to paint your picture. Blur the edges of the images by allowing the colors to mix together slightly when you paint them, or by using a wet brush to blend edges. Dry on a flat surface.

Benefits

• Students discuss the effects of downhill motion on the body, and discern how the human eye perceives motion by studying Eadweard Muybridge's photography.
• Children observe seasonal changes and identify elements related to the winter months in temperate climates.
• Students create original paintings based upon their observations and knowledge.

Adaptations

• Make a flip book of a figure in motion by using a small tablet as a drawing surface. On each page, draw a figure that changes slightly, in a continuous progression of motion, as observed in Muybridge's stop-action photography. When you are finished, flip
• Find out about a winter sport that appeals to you. How did it begin? Who are the current best athletes? What weather conditions are favorable for competitions? How do athletes train and practice? Present a report to classmates and demonstrate equipment us
• Use a stopwatch to time various downhill motions of people, blocks, or toy cars. Track the results. How do friction, weight, and angle of incline affect speed?