Category: Cycle 2
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Cycle 2 Week 17- Morisot & Impasto
This project is about creating texture through paint. The Impressionists used a technique called “impasto”, using thick paint on the canvas in such a way that the texture was very apparent and purposeful. When I first did this lesson several years ago, I followed the lesson idea from the book Discovering Great Artists closely. You…
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Cycle 2 Week 18- Van Gogh’s Starry Night
I’m super excited that Van Gogh is part of our great artists line up this year. Talk about a famous artist. His work also provides a link in the chain of how we got from realistic artwork to abstraction in the early 1900s, which is a great topic of conversation. This project walks students through…
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Welcome back!
The new school year is at my family’s doorstep, and I’m beginning to shift my thoughts from summer vacation back to homeschooling and lesson planning. With the 5th edition Foundations Guide changes, I know that many of you have also been planning ahead and wondering if I will have new lessons focused on the new…
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Cycle 2 Week 15- Degas’ Dancers
As a girl I loved looking at Degas’ work. I was enamored by the beautiful ballerinas in voluminous tutus practicing their movements . It seemed effortlessly feminine. Though most of his work focuses on the female form, he also did paintings of men and children in everyday life. The overarching theme in his work is the human figure,…
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Cycle 2 Week 16- Monet
This week we continue to study Impressionism. When we think of Impressionism we think of Claude Monet. And when we think of Claude Monet we think of water lilies, landscapes, and dabbled paint. This is exactly what we want our students to think of as well. Hopefully by the time this project is done, they…
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Cycle 2 Week 14- Gainsborough’s Fanciful Landscapes
Though Thomas Gainsborough’s landscapes might appear simply realistic to us, they have a dream-like, dramatic quality to them. It is said that he even created them at home using pebbles, twigs, and even broccoli to create mini dioramas. The images were very much from inside his own head. For this project, the students will create…
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Cycle 2 Week 14- Botanical Drawings
I love this project. It combines drawing with science and math. It teaches students to carefully study what they see. It allows us to emphasize size and proportion in drawing. Kids will always love to doodle and draw imaginative ideas, and teaching traditional drawing techniques in no way inhibits this. In fact, teaching realistic drawing will…
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Cycle 2 Week 13- Rembrandt’s Portraits
Oh, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Portrait drawing can be the most nerve-wracking art assignment. The features always look a bit wonky, it never looks like the person you are trying to draw, and it can be embarrassing to have to show it off to other kids in class. Though portrait drawing is…
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Cycle 2 Week 6- Mona Lisa Grid Drawing
I had the chance to visit the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa in person many years ago. What I thought would be a huge and impressive painting was actually a small and somewhat dull portrait. What’s all the fuss with the Mona Lisa? There have been many theories about the woman’s expression, about what…
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Cycle 2 Week 5- Cities in Perspective
Cityscapes are a wonderful way to use perspective drawing techniques. Luckily, the geography for this week is European Cities, a perfect jumping off point for drawing buildings in perspective. The drawings this week are inspired by vintage travel posters. They always have a dynamic sense of depth due to…. you guessed it, perspective! These are the posters…