Van gogh Inspired Flowers by 8th grade

Here is  some artwork completed by our 8th grade class. They created these based on Van gogh's Sunflowers.

"Views of Van gogh" by 7th grade

     In September, the seventh grade created some fabulous paintings inspired by Vincent Van gogh. The drew them out, used tempra paint, and when they were dry they added a little more texture and detail using oil pastels. I am very happy with their final products. They should be proud.

Van gogh Inspired Flowers

     This lesson was completed by my 8th grade students. First, they were given 6 tempra paint colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple), plus black and white for tinting and shading. I did a lesson on mixing colors and using black and white to create tints and shades of the different colors. Next, we examined Van gogh's famous artwork, Sunflowers, discussing his use of the 8 elements of art. The students were then encourage to create a bouquet of flowers inspired by Van gogh. Finally, they were asked to paint their sketches using colors created by mixing the primary and secondary colors at their disposal. In the end, they created tints and shades of their colors to add shadows and highlights to their artwork. They did a great job...

Van gogh Inspired Winter Trees by Seventh Grade

First of all, my original inspiration for this lesson came from a wonderful blog, http://marymaking.blogspot.com/2011/12/winter-landscapes-with-van-gogh.html. If you are looking for some great art lessons, check out Mary's blog!!!!

I love the way these turned out. The 7th grade students were asked to create a winter sky inspired by Van gogh's Starry Night. They worked on getting color, texture, and movement into their skies. I tried not to over explain or over instruct. I rally wanted they to come up with their own unique perspective of what the sky should look like. The next week, they added the bare winter trees and snowflakes. They are just so beautiful. Here are some finished ones...

"Starry Night Inspired" by 6th Grade

I keeping with the middle school students learning about Vincent Van gogh, the 6th graders did an art lesson inspired by his Starry Night.

Van gogh's Starry Night

We read about him, watched a quick video about him and his painting techniques, looked at some of his artwork, and then they set off to complete their own masterpieces.
We followed the same technique that the 8th graders did for their flower artwork; sketch in pencil, color in with oil pastels, add texture with paint. I let them use some metallic paint, too, which they loved.

They had the option of recreating the original or putting their own spin on it. As long as the had some sort of large object in the foreground, movement in their sky, and a low landscape, they were free to get as creative as they wanted to.

I love the finished pictures and think the artists should be so proud! Here are a few to look at:

Our Lady Liberty

love the technique

great colors

so cosmic looking

beautiful sky

love the deep purple