We just finished our art curriculum for this term, Artistic Pursuits. It was really fun to read about the various artists and apply some of their techniques, whether it was color or style, subject matter or methods. This particular term, we read about artists like Jean Francois Millet, Jan Vermeer, Jean-Honore Fragonard and Joseph Turner.
I think the funniest aspect of the whole thing was how the kids tended to draw the same thing, often without discussing it. The favorite subject had to be birthday parties, but trees and outdoor scenes were prominent, too.
One project they did was to put the paper on a textured surface and then use oil pastels to draw a picture. The texture underneath came right through to make a very interesting look.
This on was Gabe's on crumpled and then smoothed foil.
Olivia did this simple tree on bubble wrap.
Ezra did his tree on a bunch of pennies.
Another project was using tissue paper as the coloring rather than something like paint or crayons. Not surprisingly, they all did the same thing: boats. :)
In another project, the kids had to draw first with a black oil pastel and then paint it with watercolors. The effect was that the color would stick to the paper, but not the lines they drew with the oil pastel. Here you see one of the many appearances of the birthday party theme.
And finally, they did one last project as a group. It was a 3D drawing done on a platform of construction paper. Olivia did the drawing, Gabe and Ezra colored it and then Olivia and Gabe cut out the pieces and Olivia attached them to the paper.
Here you can see both the outdoor scene and the birthday party together.
The kids had so much fun doing this art and I'm really glad I got to do it with them.
