After seeing this video again, the kids picked the painter again this time, and agreed to start with Van Gogh, but didn’t have time to do another one last year. They want to mix the units a little bit, so maybe later this school year we’ll add another painter. We are really enjoying learning more about them, and focusing in one at a time, learning about their life and culture at that time.
Vincent Van Gogh was someone we got to see lots of his paintings while in London and Paris last year.
We did a Shades of Grey study, and it turned out good, I thought. It gave us lots to talk about.
Another project we did was to copy one of Van Gogh’s painting.
I took my old acrylic paints from when I took painting classes… way before I had kids. I think it must be 20 years ago. Yes, that is a long time…. I am glad we can still use those paints!
I think they both liked working with that but I think Lucas really enjoyed himself this time.
These are the books and videos we used for this unit:
- Dropping in on Impressionists (DVD).
- 50 Modern Artists you Should Know by Christiane Weidemann.
- The Age of French Impressionism : Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago by Gloria Groom.
- Cave Paintings to Picasso by Henry Sayre.
- A Child’s Introduction to Art : The World’s Greatest Paintings and Sculptures by Heather Alexander.
- Lives of the Artists : Masterpieces, Messes (and What the Neighbors Thought) by Kathleen Krull.
- My Art Book : Amazing Art Projects Inspired by Masterpieces.
- Art Gallery : Faces by Philip Wilkinson.
- Who and When? Impressionism and Post-Impressionism : Artists, Writers, and Composers by Sarah Halliwell.
- Express Yourself! Activities and Adventures in Expressionism by Joyce Raimondo.
- Van Gogh and the Post-Impressionists for Kids : Their Lives and Ideas, 21 Activities by Carol Sabbeth.
- Getting to Know The World’s Greatest Artists: Vincent van Gogh.
- In the Garden with van Gogh by Julie Merberg and Suzanne Bober.
- Camille and the Sunflowers : A Story about Vincent van Gogh by Laurence Anholt.
- Great Paintings : The World’s Masterpieces Explored and Explained by Karen Hosack Janes.
- The Yellow House : Vincent van Gogh & Paul Gauguin Side by Side by Susan Goldman Rubin.
- Painting the Wind : A Story of Vincent van Gogh by Michelle Dionetti.
- My Brother Vincent van Gogh by Ceciel de Bie.
- The Starry Night by Neil Waldman.
- Color Your Own Van Gogh Paintings (Dover Art Coloring Books.)
- Van Gogh Stained Glass Coloring Book by Marty Noble.
- What Makes a van Gogh a van Gogh? by Richard Muhlberger.
We also looked online for pictures of the paintings and some ideas for projects to do. One of the websites I read was from Practical Pages : Practical Homeschool Tips, Plans and Projects.
Hope you can use some of these resources and if you had other ones, please do add them in the comments section for everyone to use. Thanks for coming to visit.