Artists and Art - Piet Mondrian

We've taken such a long hiatus from art in this house that I am resurrecting my Artists and Art posts on a weekly basis to keep me accountable.  I signed up Bear for 4 trial lessons at an art school and was very disappointed in the art work that came home.  I've come to the conclusion that I just can't be lazy about it and will just have to depend upon myself to give Bear and J-jo a good start in art appreciation and art skills.

I eased back into art with a simple abstract project based on Piet Mondrian's Composition II in Red.

image from Wikipedia

 After reading bits and pieces from Wikipedia aloud to Bear and J-jo, and looking up the Netherlands on a map of Europe, we started our art project.  We discussed what would make our art work look like Mondrian's and came up with:

• needs horizontal and vertical lines
• needs to have rectangles and squares
• can only use red, yellow, and blue
• leave white for contrast

I cut strips of black construction paper and they glued them down. Then they chose from the three colors, deciding where to paint. That's it!

  Bear's.

J-jo's.

 

The best part is that the children were able to see some Mondrian paintings in person at our art museum this week.  

Next up: some Matisse and Picasso