A Painting for Junior High English Classes to Write About

triptych for student critique

I substituted today in junior high English and was given free reign to do my own thing, talking about the creative process and writing about art.  That's a lot to cover in a short class period.  Vocabulary in the subject matter is important, and could take a full year in an art classroom!  We discussed elements and principles of art, and how an artist can direct the viewer to the focal point with contrasting shapes or colors, or use of  directional lines.  Then we used a critique form to define thoughts about this  particular  piece of art.  it had questions like, "What do you notice first?" and "Why do you notice that?" In talking about my creative process, some classes were able to view the before pictures, as well as other in-process paintings.  The beginning stage photo (below) made me wonder how my imagery must have been influenced by the Target bag on the work table!  Generally, my art is all about process, with very little planning...where a

lot of randomness starts to gel, and sometimes after many years, might become the finished work.  That concept can be difficult to grasp.   I don't have a title for this painting yet, and I'm not sure it is finished.  For an assignment due on Monday, students were asked to write a paragraph-at least 3 sentences-describing this triptych piece as if they were an art critic at the local paper and the reader had not seen the art.  I can't wait to see what they come up with.  Maybe it will help inform the final piece or at least get me closer to a title.
.