Flowers Inspired by Van Gogh by Gr. 8

This is the first completed art lesson created by my 8th grade art students. It took a few weeks. We explored the life and techniques of Van Gogh through books, posters, and video. They studied his work, Sunflowers.

Van Gogh's Sunflowers

The first week they observed illustrations of different flowers and used these as ideas for creating their own bouquet of flowers in a vase. I encouraged them to make their own decision whether they wanted to do all sunflowers or a variety of flowers.

They all spent some time sketching their picture, then they used layers of oil pastels to add the first layer of color. We reviewed techniques for using the oil pastels since it was their first time using them this school year.

The last step was using a variety of tempra paint colors to add interest to the overall composition of their artwork. We discussed using the paint not just to add color to their work, but to focus on adding TEXTURE to their artwork to mimic the style mastered by Vincent Van Gogh. I think they did a great job!