6th Grade Abstract Landscapes!

This lesson has become a staple for my 6th grade Core Art Class.  Landscape is a great subject, very broad subject.  Then choosing several artists with interesting, painterly techniques to inspire composition, approach to colors and mixing... you have a great lesson!

We look closely at Mandy Budan, a current Canadian Artist, and Vincent Van Gogh.  Students create smaller thumbnail sketches in their sketchbook, (4x6), and practice painting with both artists techniques.  Once they decide their own style, inspired by the two artists, we draw on a larger 16x14 paper.  Students are required to have foreground, middle ground and background.  Once drawn, sky and background are painted first, then middleground, followed by foreground. Each quarter, the students manage to create very different looking landscapes! No two are alike!

4th Grade Spooky Van Gogh!

I love Van Gogh and I love Halloween! A perfect combination! My students LOVED this painting so much.  We started the sky first with yellow to golden yellow, orange.  Then the violets with white to finish the sky.  The ground was mostly the straight, dark violet from the bottle. A TINY bit of black to make the ground darker than the sky.

Week two, week painted haunted houses and the cypress tree with India Ink.  Then anything SpOoKy they wanted to add!

Last step... a little silver Sharpie for added details! BOO! They are done! 😃

2nd Grade - Van Gogh's Flowers in Vases

 This lesson is a Judy Bowerman original... who is Judy??? My mother, who trained me to be an art teacher. She taught visual art for 32 years, mostly elementary. She always taught this lesson on pastel sulphite construction paper. I usually pick a different pastel for each class,
which keeps me organized.

We look at several of Van Gogh's paintings with flowers and focus mostly on his painterly style. 

I use this as a color mixing lesson, starting with the orange family.

Next time, we mix the violet family and create a vase with pattern. Then finish 

with the greens for some added pop!

Flowers in Vases always make me happy!