Mommio: Art Class

Last week in class we all shared our illuminated name projects from the Limbourg brothers class.  Several of the kids enjoyed this one so much that they did more than one.  They all turned out great!

Next we discussed Jan van Eyck, a famous painter from the early 1400's in the Netherlands.  As a child, van Eyck was very curious and loved to observe things and then draw pictures to tell stories about what he had seen.  Later in life he was most well-known for perfecting the use of oil paints.  He was commissioned by Dukes during his time to paint many portraits of wealthy people.  One of his most famous is The Arnolfini Marriage.

 We studied this painting together and saw that he was still telling stories as an adult painter in his portraits by hiding little details in his paintings.  The kids and I played an "I Spy" game using this painting to find all the hidden treasures in it- like the other people shown in the room in the mirror. Then the kids each drew their own picture using oil pastels.  They were allowed to choose any subject matter, but told that they would need to be able to tell a story about their pictures later.  I sent them to separate rooms so that their ideas would all be different. Here they are drawing away...

For homework they are writing stories to go with their pictures. Each one of them told me that they hid something in their pictures so it will be fun to see how they did that.  This week we start our study of Da Vinci with learning how to investigate objects by sketching and note taking.