Digital @ The Arts Unit Creative Classes

Bird's eye art

Explore artwork using aerial perspective and abstract forms

Student visual arts resource developed by The Arts Unit

Years 7 and 8 visual arts

What will I learn?

You will:

  • imagine the world from different perspectives

  • explore aerial art by looking at Sarrita King’s artmaking practice and Google Earth

  • create an artwork to express connection to place through line, shape, colour and texture

  • reflect on the meaning of representational and abstract art.

Before you begin

You'll need:

  • a large piece of paper

  • paint brushes (ideally a range of sizes – or you could use your fingers!)

  • paint (acrylic or watercolour). If you can’t find any paint, you can use coloured pencils or draw with texta and brush water on top of your drawing for a watercolour effect.


  1. Imagine

Close your eyes and imagine yourself flying high in the sky like a bird.

As you soar higher and higher, think about what your town, Australia and the world looks like from up there?

Share your thoughts with someone else or write down your thoughts in your visual arts book.


2. Explore

Choose a place that you know well – it could be:

  • your home

  • somewhere you go on holidays

  • somewhere else in the world.

Visit Google Earth and explore Australia from above – what looks different to you?

Search Google Earth for your chosen place.

As you zoom in and out, what do you notice about the shapes you see?

For example, buildings or fields might have square shapes, while rivers and roads have winding lines.

Sarrita King is a Gurindji artist who often paints the Country where she and her family grew up. Sarrita King, as well as many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, like to paint landscapes from an overhead or aerial (bird’s eye) perspective.

Watch the following video about Sarrita King’s artmaking.

  • What are the different colours, shapes, lines and textures in her artworks?

  • Can you see the lightning and landscape forms she describes?

Record your answers.

Aboriginal Artist Sarrita King – A collection of her artworks

Duration: 01:48

3. Create

Paint or draw your chosen place from above, like Sarrita King, using colour, shapes, lines and textures.

Note: you don’t need to copy Sarrita King’s style – make up your own style!

Start with major landmarks and shapes and end with smaller details.

Art tip: for little details it’s easier to paint with a small brush.

You could also think about the colours you use.

Colour wheel

Colour wheel with 8 colours

Wonderful World

Sasha Buchanan Operation Art
Operation Art student artwork by Sasha Buchanan


Look closely at the student artwork 'Wonderful World' by Sasha Buchanan.

As you can see, this artwork uses pinks, reds, oranges and yellows. These are all warm colours and are called analogous (similar) colours because they are next to each other on the colour wheel. Greens, blues and purples are also analogous colours.

4. Discuss

Watch this excerpt from an interview with student Sebastian Clarke talking about his 2019 HSC artwork.

Interview with Sebastian Clarke – HSC artwork 'Bleating Drought'

Duration: 09:11

Imagine you are being interviewed about the artwork you have just created.

Write a summary of the artwork you created, including:

  • Where did you get your ideas?

  • Would you call the images and artworks you’ve seen ‘realistic’? Why or why not?

  • How did you go about creating it?

  • What techniques did you use?

  • Are you happy with the result?

Film yourself talking about the artwork you have created to share with your teacher.

Extension activity

Reflect on Sarrita King’s artworks and your own artwork based on Google Earth.

Maybe whether an artwork is ‘realistic’ or not is just a matter of perspective!


Well done!

You have completed this

Digital @ The Arts Unit Creative Class.

Third-party content attributions