In this activity, you will learn to identify a one-point perspective and overlapping elements by creating a composition of buildings and clouds, exploring depth and colors.

Materials
Canvas (or use paper or cardboard, 8.5” x 11” or larger)
Paint or Markers (any two colors)
Brushes
Ruler (any straight edge will work)
Pencil

Instructions
1. Paint or draw a cloud in the center of your canvas and allow it to dry.
2. With a pencil, place a dot in the center of your cloud. This will be your reference point.
3. Use your pencil and straight edge to sketch two to four squares or rectangles as the buildings’ roofs from a bird’s eye view.
4. From the corners of the roofs, draw the lines of the walls, connecting each to your reference point at the center of your cloud. Consider how the visual scale differs when overlapping the buildings with the cloud versus overlapping the cloud with the buildings.
5. Finish your composition by outlining your pencil lines in marker using your straight edge and erase any unwanted pencil marks.
6. Create a title for your composition and share on social media – tag us: @artpace, #ArtpaceAtHome; #MakeArtHappen.

To read about Tala Madani’s 2013 International Artist-in-Residence exhibition, Light and Suicide, and view the complete TEKS-aligned One-Point Perspective lesson plan and others, please visit our Educator Resources page.

A few examples…