The Color of Home

The Assignment

Draw a place that feels like home to you — a room, a porch, a kitchen table, a street, a car, a relative's house. Then build it in burnished colored pencil, choosing a small family of colors that matches how that place FEELS, not just how it looks.

The Rules

• Pick a palette of 3–4 colors that sit next to each other on the color wheel (analogous), plus white or a colorless blender. No other colors.
• At least 3 layers in every colored area before burnishing.
• Show one smooth gradient — like a sky, a wall in shadow, or light through a window.
• Fill the whole page — no blank leftover background.

Steps

1. 1. Color wheel check: on the color wheel you made in Module 4, circle your 3–4 neighboring colors. Show the teacher before you start.
2. 2. Brainstorm 5 places that feel like home. Circle the one you can picture best.
3. 3. Make 2 thumbnail sketches (2–3 inches). Pick the stronger one.
4. 4. Lightly draw it on your final paper. Keep pencil lines light.
5. 5. Lay down your lightest color everywhere, with very light pressure.
6. 6. Add 2–3 more light layers, darker colors where shadows go. Overlap colors where they meet.
7. 7. Burnish: press hard with white or the blender in small circles until the grain disappears.
8. 8. Add crisp edges and details with a sharp pencil.
9. 9. Write your artist statement and staple it to the back.

Writing — Artist Statement

Write an artist statement (5–6 sentences) and staple it to the back: (1) Where is this place, and why is it home to you? (2) Which colors did you choose? Point to where they are on the color wheel. (3) Why do those colors match the feeling of the place? (4) Where did you burnish, and what did it change? (5) What's one detail only you would notice?

Materials

Colored pencils (only 3–4 neighboring colors needed per student) · White pencil or colorless blender · Cardstock or mixed-media paper, about 8.5×11 · Practice sheet with a printed color wheel · Sharpeners at every table