Random Mumble: Best Part of the Day

Today had many good moments, teaching and otherwise. 

Actually, as I think about it, each and every class impressed me in some unique way today. 

With Mrs. Finnegan's 3rd grade class, it felt as though we could just spend the class period talking about Van Gogh and Lego Sculptures. With Van Gogh, I was impressed at how much my lovelies remembered from last year but moreso how great it was to analyze The Starry Night with them. We discussed line and color and the night sky on the French countryside. While I know a lot about Van Gogh, I feel personal fulfillment when a student asks me a question that I can't answer with 100% certainty. Why? Well, because the question must have been a great one and it requires me to learn more and think about my favorite artist in a new way. We explored making marks to indicate movement via charcoal and natural colored paper in honor of Van Gogh's beautiful preliminary sketches that ended up becoming the famous painting.

Here are a few photos of my students working. 

Grade 1 and Grade 5: Mixed Media Sunflowers

This was a fun one. When I was a child, I was OBSESSED with drawing sunflowers... and I wore a t-shirt with a huge sunflower on it and I doodled sunflowers on my Converses. Nature was a huge part of my formative years which made these two projects based on my favorite painter Vincent van Gogh a pleasure to make. 

The first is this slightly mixed media project in which the 5th graders used a dictionary page to draw a sunflower. Outlined in Sharpie and painted with a wash of color, the kids did a nice job capturing 'Sunflowers"

The second project was a ton of fun to make. We read a book about van Gogh's sunflowers and discussed the content in the story which talked about van Gogh's passion for painting and the struggles he encountered along the way.

We examined sunflowers..the center, the petals and referred to "Sunflowers" to see how van Gogh painted these top heavy flowers in different stages. 

We began by mixing colors for the background and added texture. The kids created their vases with a simple line drawing followed up with an oil pastel outline. Next up was painting the vases. Finally, we had a fun time creating the sunflowers and adding details to them after they were glued down.

Join Us!

Weekend Mornings Inspired by van Gogh

Book of van Gogh's letters in hand with acrylics and brushes, I spent a few hours each morning this past weekend sitting at the kitchen table painting...for myself vs. a lesson plan... and it felt awesome. For those of you with young children, I am sure that you are familiar with how rare it can be to find time for hobbies. 

 I started out with 'Starry Night Over the Rhone" which feels more of like a painter's sketch vs. a full finished painting because it took such a short time to paint. With each brushstroke, I pictured Vincent outside, connected with nature painting for the pure joy and desire to just paint and live.

Step 1

Step 2..done

Sunday morning brought a more challenging sketch of just an Iris. Not quite finished yet.

Step 1

Step 1.5...not quite done

Grade 4: Almond Blossoms

Almond Blossoms is one of my very favorite paintings. Vincent van Gogh painted it to hang in his nephews nursery. The flowering branches were a favorite of van Gogh's as they represented "awakening and hope". I love the color palette of this painting as well as the strength and delicacy of it. This painting, along with numerous others, were on display a few year back in Philadelphia at the museum there. Almond Blossoms is a large painting that is mesmerizing.

This month, in the art room we are learning about Vincent van Gogh. Each grade level is capturing his post-impressionistic style and imagery in a project of their own. My 4th graders have done a beautiful job of creating their interpretation of 'Almond Blossoms'.
Not to go into a weird art teacher mode here but I felt somewhat emotional watching my students progress in these paintings. We began by mixing colors for the backgrounds. The joy that these 9 and 10 year olds had in mixing paint reminded me of how beautiful the simple joys of life/art can be.

Once the branches were drawn, students blended colors to fill the branches in followed by adding the delicate flowers. I could have cried seeing how beautifully executed the branches were. I felt such a wave of emotions seeing my 4th graders, who I love so dearly, re-create one of my favorite paintings so well. Their talent beamed through in each stage of this project. Here are a few completed painting from Mrs. Miller's class.

Almond Branches

One of my very favorite Van Gogh paintings is 'Almond Branches'. The painting was a gift for his Nephew. I just love the thought of him creating this beautiful, floral painting for a boy and every time I see this painting, I think of my son. For as long as I've loved this painting and for the amount of time that I stood looking at it like a cliche of a museum-goer, it never struck me to do a project around it. Standing in the hallway at Bear Tavern looking at the space where we are to create a wildlife mural, I noticed these eight, drab looking panels in the space above and in between our mural destination. Something has to go there, but what? A sky?! Not a corny old sky! Then it hit me Of course not a corny sky, a sky that is beautiful, strong and delicate! Almond Branches in a sky! And there you have it!

 It's circus week so my classes are a bit choppy. 3rd grade this morning only had art for 20 minutes. I promised our next project was a clay project so I didn't want to move on to something else or give a free art period. So, I spread out eight large pieces of paper and served them three scoops of paints and let them mix up the perfect blue sky. Wash the tables, wash your hands and on line for the assembly!
On comes 5th grade a few hours later. Same thing, but with slightly more time. Just enough that the half dozen or more hands that wanted to participate were able to enjoy painting the branches and flower petals.
I will hopefully be able to install some of these beauties tomorrow between lunch and the end of the day. Just can't wait!!

Grade 3: Starry Night

Van Gogh is my favorite painter and one of my very favorite artists. My 3rd graders put in major work to create broken lines showing expression in their skies indicating the direction of their wind gusts. We talked quite a bit about Van Gogh and looked at several of his paintings.

Tiernan

Sulkmani

Review: Van Gogh Exhibit @ The Philadelphia Museum of Art and a fun day in Philly

Van Gogh has been a long running favorite artist of mine and quite likely my favorite "Master" artist.
I had attempted to see the exhibit several weeks ago, had a tough time parking and did not pre-purchase tickets. Result: my family was in a long line and ended up at the nearby Franklin Institute instead.

Yesterday, refusing to pay an extra $3.50 per ticket to buy ticket in advance, we purchased tickets in person at the museum (10:30 this time) for a later afternoon tour. *Great*

We explored Philly for most of the afternoon in the Rittenhouse area and ate at a great restaurant called Marathon. The weather was beautiful and Philly was fairly quiet but with a comfortable bustle.
St. Patrick's Day the day before was most likely the culprit.

The Van Gogh: Up Close exhibit was incredible. Showcased were paintings focusing on landscapes that he created over a four year period.
His famous 'Sunflowers' took a backseat to numerous other paintings that were so alive with color and his incredible brushstrokes. The paint on those canvasses was so thick in places I wish that I could have seen him painting them.

Here's the personal bonus: My FAVORITE Asian artist, HIROSHIGE, had several of his woodcuts on display inside the Van Gogh exhibit because Van Gogh was a collector of his work. Oh my, they were soooo beautiful!