Artists and Art Week 6 - Vincent van Gogh and Still Life

Before I talk about our Still Life project, I want to tell you a little but about Art in Action.  They offer art modules for different grade levels.  These art modules consist of lessons that present an artist, a painting by that artist and a student project based on something about the art of the focus artist.  They offer their program to homeschoolers as well.

I was given an art module to try out by Art in Action.  I am really impressed with how thorough the two lessons we have done have been.  If you do not feel comfortable teaching art appreciation, Art in Action is the perfect thing.  Each lesson has a video to watch that discusses the painting.  The painting is discussed by asking key questions that are then answered in the video.  The questions are meant to make the child think and provide something for them to tap into in the creation stage of the lesson. I have learned so many new things from watching these and I am not an art rookie.

They walk you through the lesson step by step and it is all shown to you in photos and videos.  I love all the curriculum integration ideas they suggest. There is an assessment section in which they provide questions for assessment.  For example, "Identify colors that were mixed to paint the flowers." or "Show where flowers and shapes overlap each other."  There are also ample additional resources suggested.  And even though I was given my module for free, this is my honest opinion of the module.  In fact, when Bear is older I will consider purchasing a few more modules.

I was thrilled that they had a Japanese artist in Art Module 1 as that tied in nicely last week with Grandfather's Journey.   This week I wanted a still life artist and was happy to find the Van Gogh lesson.  I did put my own twist to the project as we did not have sunflowers to paint.  Instead we painted our pumpkins.

We listened to the teaching video and read some books about van Gogh. Then I placed our pumpkins on the table and we talked about what shapes we saw.  We discussed how to mix paint to make orange and brown.  Then Bear and I painted.

 She got tired of doing the blue and asked me to finish it for her.  

Then she worked on a giant pumpkin whose stem broke off.

She wasn't going to add any stem, but I suggested she show a bit of the stump from where it broke off so that people who weren't as smart as she is could know it was a pumpkin. lol. Notice the TINY stem she made to humor me.

If you've done any art with your child this week based on an artist or illustration style, or taught some of the elements and principles of art, or studied a musician or any other type of artist, please join the Linky.  Please remember to link back or grab the button on the side bar.

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