vincent Van Gogh Elementary Art Lesson Pre-K to 6th Grade



 

 
Josey’s Art School

Presents

Studying Art with the Masters

By

Robin Norgren, M.A.

This Lesson:

Vincent Van Gogh Inspired Sailboats



 

 

Seascapes with Sailboats

 

Discussion

·       Van Gogh painted many paintings of sailboats when he was on a trip he took to get well after being sick.

·       With these paintings, Van Gogh wanted to capture the light’s effect on the sea.

·       To emphasize contrast to the color green in the painting, Van Gogh signs his name in large bright red letters.

·       The fluid movements of Van Gogh's pen bring an energy to the drawings.

 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saintes-Maries_(Van_Gogh_series)

 

Materials needed

Pencil (make sure to write the child’s name on the back of the work)

Black pen (optional)

8.5x11 piece of heavy weighted paper; perhaps watercolor but more weight than copy paper.  I have used copy paper as well and it turns out fine; just caution the students about making the paper too wet.

This is a lesson that can be adapted in many ways depending on the age and skill level of your classroom. 

Water bowls

Water

Paint brushes

Various colors of tempura paint (colors for the water- green and blue, colors for the boats 2-3 colors, color for the silhouette around the boat – white)

sponges

Aprons/painting shirts

Length of Time/Duration of project:

30-40 minutes

Prep work:

Gather the materials

Create a sample

This should take no more than about 30 minutes

 

Instructions

1.   Take your piece of paper that you are using as the base for the project and write the child’s name on the back of the paper or let them write their names on their own.

 

2.    This lesson has a directed drawing component to it (with the sailboats mentioned later).  Place your paper long side down on the table.  Fold the paper in half and then open, keeping long side at the bottom.

 




 3.    On the bottom half of the paper, you will create an ocean effect using kitchen sponges cut in into rectangles.  See below. You will fill the bottom of the page below the crease with paint.





4.    While the paint is still wet, we will begin drawing the boats.  Create two smiles to make the bowl of the boats with a pencil. 




5.    Next you will draw the mast and the sails using simple rectangle and triangle shapes.


6.    Paint the sailboats using your chosen colors.




7.    Paint the background – okay to use the same blue that you used for the ocean.  Final step is to paint a silhouette around the boats using white paint.


8.    Fold over the paper so that the top of the page’s edge meets the bottom of the page.  Press down firmly so that the paint on the top of the page transfer to the bottom of the page.


9.    Open the paper and see the results.



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