Art Inspiration - Monet

The blog that I was following had a few days off so I decided to make my own Art Appreciation lesson for the kids. Another artist who I knew was quite famous and makes popular art was Monet, so I decided to find some youtube clips about him and his art and make an artwork inspired by him.

We sat down and watched a biography to learn a bit more about Claude Monet and see many of his artworks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah5g2M14oUM
Eliza was very excited when she saw the haystacks painting, as she had remembered it from Kandinsky's art video.

Then we listened to the story Katie and the Waterlily Pond. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEDh0e5Aydo
This book brought us to look at the painting 'Bridge Over a Pond Of Water Lillies'. This was what we were going to use to create our own version.

I found an art lesson online too that I used to guide us to make our own artworks.
https://thecraftyclassroom.com/crafts/famous-artist-crafts-for-kids/monet-craft-for-kids/

I used masking tape (that I had pushed onto my leg a few times to lose the stickiness) to make the outline of a bridge. I made all of Alexander's bridge but Eliza and Daniel both made their own ones. Then the kids used bright colours to fingerprint with to make the background. All that they had to do was dab their finger on the paper to make the picture. They did pretty well, only occasionally rubbing the paint with their fingers instead of dabbing.

Daniel mixed colours to make brown for tree trunks

Alexander had a blast just mixing the colours

Once the paint had dried the next day we pulled off the masking tape and that revealed a gorgeous white bridge. Pretty cool! 

I was quite proud of myself for organising my own lesson to appreciate the art and the artist. Even though it was all on the internet, I had pulled it all together and the kids loved it!

Art Inspiration - Paul Klee

Today's artworks were based upon Paul Klee and his artwork Castle and Sun.
We started by watching a couple of Youtube videos on Paul Klee. One was Artrageous with Nate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq9oBYgkxaw&list=RDCMUCNyMABoWrjbZ__8X5KhT8rQ&index=1

I loved it when they mentioned that Klee went to the Bauhaus, and art school in Germany that focussed on design. Daniel jumped up and shouted that we had already learnt about another artist who went there, Kandinsky. It was really cool that he has been listening to the information and has been remembering it. Very cool!

We then watched a clip showing the artwork Castle and Sun that pointed out how it was made with shapes. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LASI7kaqY94

Then the kids headed to the backroom to design their own picture. The idea was to make their own castle however they wanted to. I had cut out different sized squares, semi circles, triangles in different colours. It was up to the kids to put them together to make their pictures. The results were pretty fun! And I love that they are each so unique.

Daniel had finished his castle and asked if he could paint a castle as well. I told him that he could trace around different shapes and then use water colour paints to fill in the shapes. He was again so focussed on it and did an amazing job!

Tracing around a square block

Time to paint

His finished castle

Eliza then wanted to use the water colour paints to make her own picture of a castle, but to not be bound to using shapes. Fair enough. I guess it isn't everyone's cup of tea.

I like the brightness of their castles and, as I mentioned, I like that they are each unique.

Art Inspiration - Georges Seurat

The next artist that the kids learnt about was Georges Seurat and the painting technique pointillism. We started by watching a couple of youtube clips about him and his artworks. The first one was Artrageous with Nate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9DX5MhkfYQ&feature=youtu.be

The next one I came across when my friend Tamara mentioned that her kids had been obsessed with watching Art with Mati and Dada. They had watched clips on all the artists I had already taught the kids. It is a cartoon so it engaged Alexander more but didn't go into as much detail as the other videos. Daniel wasn't as keen on it which was cool to hear. He was really enjoying the information side of the videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDW4wSTm-V4

We spoke about pointillism and how it is done by using lots of little dots that up close you see as dots but far away the dots trick the eye to make a picture and also mix the colours.
We then headed outside to the front lawn. I made some makeshift easels using the table and one of the bins and stuck some paper onto them. Each of the kids got a paper plate with the primary paint colours on it and ear buds to use in the paints. 

Using the inspiration from the Art with Mati and Dada the kids decided to make butterflies using pointillism. We first drew an outline of a butterfly. Then the kids started to dot with their earbuds. Daniel really grasped the concept and did a great job at dotting his butterfly to mix the colours and make the new colours. Eliza and Alexander lost interest in dotting at times and painted with the earbud instead. When reminded they would start to dot again.

Concentration tongue

It was a great activity too to explore colour mixing for Alexander.

I loved Daniel's finished product. You can see how the different coloured dots are blending together to trick the eye and make the butterfly look purple and the centre of the butterfly look brown. 

This one was different but didn't engage the kids as much as the previous art lessons. They didn't want to do more than 1 picture and they did get over doing the dots and started to paint with the earbuds but they pushed through and finished their pictures.

Art Inspirtation - Painting like Michelangelo painted the roof of the Sistine Chapel

I was quite excited about seeing how today's art session would go. Today the kids learnt about Michelangelo and how he painted the roof of the Sistine Chapel and then had a go at painting the same way.

We started by watching Artrageous with Nate again. This focused on how Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NadMZ-P93Ms

It was cool to learn that he painted it by standing up and bending his head back. I always thought that he lay down to paint but that's not the case. It was cool to hear the information about it after seeing the chapel 9 years ago in person. I would love to go back and actually pay more attention to the detail. Daniel was a little bit disappointed that it didn't really focus on his life, but I wanted the focus to be on the painting of the ceiling.

Next up we headed outside and the kids had a go of their own. We had to do it 1 at a time. For Eliza and Daniel I put their little kids table on top of the bins so they could stand under it and paint on the paper that I stuck under the table. For Alexander, I put the table on 2 chairs and he sat under the table and painted the paper that was stuck under the table. I was quite proud of myself for working out how to do it. Again, it was only through the video that I learnt that Michelangelo stood up to paint, not lay down.

First up was Eliza. Again she was right into it. The kids had freedom to paint whatever they wanted to, the only catch was that they had to paint it on the ceiling, not on the ground. 

The set up

She did well to fill the space

I asked Eliza if she liked painting like this or if it was hard. She said that she liked it but it hurt her neck looking up the whole time.

Next up was Alexander.

Painting a race track

Alexander had the bonus of being able to lean on the ground while painting but he also agreed that he didn't like painting this way.

Last up was Daniel. He asked if he could bring our toy Christopher outside to paint a portrait of. He set him up on the chair and got to work.

Spot Christopher

Daniel really liked painting like this but he also agreed that it hurt his neck. We spoke about how it must have felt for Michelangelo to paint for those years on the Chapel roof.

They mustn't have disliked it that much because Daniel, Alexander and Eliza wanted to have another go.

While one painted on the 'roof' the others had free painting on the grass.

I love how Eliza is supporting her arm to paint above her.

The results were fun but the meaning behind why we painted this way was cool! I really liked doing this. By the way, I always knew Michelangelo was amazing, but to see the kids have a go at painting this way and knowing the detail he included in his paintings, he is even more amazing!!