Introduction:
Flags have always been a way for nations or groups of people to identify their common ideals. A flag symbolizes any number of ideals that many people can share. Anyone from baseball teams to businesses to countries have their own flags. Today we will paint our own flags (to celebrate Flag Day on June 14th) with symbols that identify who we are and what we believe in. We will be using acrylic paints on cotton canvas and we will use a couple of different brushes; rounds, flats, brights, and filberts.

Materials:

• Pencils and erasers
• Newsprint (optional for sketching original ideas)
• Golden acrylic paints
• Brushes (vary the size and type hair of the brushes as an addition to the Lesson, e.g., rounds, brights, flats, and filberts in sable, squirrel, camel, and synthetic)
• Water containers
• Masking tape
• Wooden dowels
• Stapler or white glue

Directions:

1. Decide what symbol you want to represent you on your flag. It can be a symbol of your favorite food, the symbol for your country (bedroom), a symbol depicting your favorite thing to do, or a symbol representing the ideal that describes your personality best. Your design should be fairly simple and should be not more than 4 colors. You can sketch your ideas on newsprint or can draw straight on the canvas with your drawing pencil.


2. When your design is finished you are ready to paint. Tape the canvas to the table or to a drawing board with masking tape to keep it from sliding around. A filbert, a flat brush, or a bright would be the best brush shapes for this painting. Rounds can be useful for small details. Acrylics are stiffer paints so either synthetic brushes or hogs hair bristle brushes will work the best.


3. Cover the canvas with an even layer of paint. Hold your brush like you would a pencil but with your fingers farther back on the handle. Stroke the canvas (with the brush) like you would a favorite pet, never jab or push the brush. When your flag is dry, glue or staple it to a wooden dowel and display it in your room (or disputed territory.)

Art Terms:
Symbol – a visual image (usually simple) that stands for a more complex idea or set of ideas.

Resources:
Mayer, Ralph. The Harper Collins Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques. Harper Collins Publishers. New York. 1991

Turner, Jacques. Brushes: A Handbook for Artists and Artisans. Design Press, New York. 1992.

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