Art Flash Card Page

 George Seurat (Seurat-the-dot)

La Grande Jatte

George Seruat (Suerat-the-dot)

La Chahut

Vincent Van Gogh

l'Eglise a Auver-Sur-Oise

 Vincent Van Gogh

The Starry Night

Vincent Van Gogh

The Bedroom

 Edgar Degas (Painted Ballerina's - but not here)

The Absinthe Drinker

 Edgar Degas

Blue Dancers

Edgar Degas

Dress Rehearsal on Stage 

Edgar Degas

Waiting

Claude Monet

Bains a la Grenouiller 

Pierre August Renoir

La Grenouiller

Claude Money

Le Jardin a Giverny 

Pierre August Renoir

Le Jardin a Giverny

Claude Monet

Water Lillies 

Pierre August Renoir

Water Lillies


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Lesson 4 - Georges Seurat

Let's run todays Art Flash Cards First, shall we?

Say each one aloud (it is really important to say them aloud as your eyes are looking at them.  Trust me. It's true.)

Click here to review Art Flash Cards

Today we add a new artist to our growing list: Georges Seurat.

George Seurat

"La Grande Jatte"
(Pronounced, "La Grond jot")

"La Grande Jatte" close up.

George Seurat

"La Chahut"

(Pronounced, "La shah-ooo")

"La Chahut" close up.

George Seurat was a pointillist. Pointilism is similar to impressionism in that it is used to capture light using tiny dots of paint to represent how the colours change depending upon how the light affects them. When you stand close up, or look closely at a section of an impressionistic or pointilist painting it is more difficult to make sense of the image you are looking at.  If you step back, the full image begins to emerge and make sense to the brain and the eye.

We jokingly refer to George Seurat as "Seurat-the-dot".  To help us remember that his art style is pointillism, or 'dots".
(All though his name is normally pronounced, "Syoo-RAH".)

To learn more about George Seurat you can visit this site.


As an activity, you may wish to make your own pointillistic work of art.  If you have paint, that's perfect!  If you don't have paint, you can use markers (just make sure you have some news paper underneath because markers bleed through to the other side and you don't want to ruin your desk or table.)  You can also use crayons and draw teeny tiny circles for the"dots".  If you really want to be crazy...if you have a hole punch, you can use your crayons to colour entire sheets of paper and then hole punch them. Use the little paper circles and a glue stick to make your pointellistic image. Also, if you have coloured paper you can use the hole punch to create your "dots" that way too.
You can also use dried beans of different colours to make an image.  If you used white beans you could colour them.  You could even use beads, glued onto the page. What about tiny little rocks you find in your driveway? Be creative!

Have fun with todays activity!

And remember - wash your hands.  The artists we have studied were not very good at washing their hands. And where are they today, hmmm?  Yeah. Think about that.  ;o)

Lesson 3 - Vincent Van Gogh

First off - Ok so I found out last night that yesterday was "National Crayola Day".  It dawned on me, even if you don't have any fancy shmancy art supplies, you can still recreate a master work using good old fashioned crayons! So let's all just bear that in mind, shall we? After all, the greatest works in art have often been created using the crappiest or least respected art supplies. I bet you could even make a rudimentary paint using eg whites and food colouring. Hmm...I'll have to  google that...later.

ANYWAY...


Alright, these are the works we learned yesterday.

Can you name the artist for each? Give yourself 1 point for each artist if you can name them.
Can you name the title of the painting?  Give yourself another point for each painting you can name correctly.

Possible points per painting: 2, for a grande total of 6 points.

Ready. Set. go.

Today we will add a new artist: Vincent Van Gogh
(He is one of my personal favourites because the story of his life is so poignant.)

"The Starry Night"

A closer look at the brush strokes in 

"Starry Night".

"The Bedroom"

A closer look at the brush work in

"The Bedroom".

"L'Eglise a Auver-Sur-oise"

A closer look at the brush strokes in

"L'Eglise a Auver-Sur-Oise"

** One of the interesting things that has been said about this painting is that Van Gogh painted it while he was in hospital at Auver-Sur-Oise.  Before Vincent became a painter, he studied to become a Priest. But for what ever reason had difficulty connecting with God in that environment.  Some have said that the reason he painted the Church at Auver-Sur-Oise with no visible doors had something to do with his experiences as a Priest.  Always searching for God, but never quite connecting Him.  

I hope he did in the end.

Read more about Vincent Van Gogh here and also here.

So today we have added to our Flash Card list, the following pieces.  Please say aloud, the name of the artist as you look at each image.  If you can, try to  pronounce the title of the piece:

Edgar Degas, "Blue Dancers"

Vincent Van Gogh, "The Bedroom"

 Claude Monet, "Water Lillies"

Pierre August Renoir, "Water Lillies"

Vincent Van Gogh, "The Starry Night"

Edgar Degas, "The Absinthe Drinker"

 Claude Monet, "Bains a La Grenouiller"

Pronounced: Ban ah La GRON-nooee-AIR

Pierre August Renoir, "La Grenouiller"

See prononciation above.

Well done!

Maybe if you have paint supplies you may wish to attempt to reproduce for make your own Impressionist painting using many tiny little brush strokes.
If you have no painting supplies then take some time to sketch something in your home or something you can see out of your window.

Lesson 2 - Friends Paint Together

Pierre August Renoir 

"Water Lillies"

Claude Monet

"Water Lillies"

Renoir

"La Grenouiller"

Monet

"Bathers at La Grenouiller"

Renoir

"Garden Pathway at Giverny"

Monet

"Garden Pathway at Giverny"

Renoir and Monet: Friendship and Art

The art world is often considered small and intimate, with many artists moving in the same social circles. This can sometimes lead to unexpected friendships and collaborations. This is especially prevalent within certain art movements, such as Impressionism. Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir were two such painters that formed a bond both on and off the canvas.

Both of these painters are considered masters of the Impressionist art movement. Their styles do have some similarities, but also reflect a difference in their personalities. Claude Monet, who founded the style, often focused on light and emotion, while Renoir chose to make the people in his works the centerpiece. Although they both used soft colors and broad brushstrokes that the movement was known for, their pieces could never be mistaken for each other.  See More...

If you magnify each of the images you should be able to see how the over - all design gets lost in teh closed up.  Impressionism gives you an Impression, from a distance, of the picture.  When you get close you are lost in a million tiny brush strokes.  Each stroke representing shades and tones of light.

Monet would often set up several easels with canvases around his lily pond. He would begin in one place in the morning and paint how things looked form that spot in the early morning light.  As the day progressed, he would move on to the next canvas and capture how the light changed the colours at each place.

So our two new artists for the day are: (Say them aloud as you look at each picture)

"Impressionism is many small brush strokes, in many colours used to portray light."

"Monet was the first impressionist. " 

"Renoir was also an impressionist."

"Monet and Renoir were friends who painted together."

And now it is time to run Art Cards:

Name the artist and the name of the painter for each of the following images:

Lesson 1 - Art Flash Card Lessons - the online version.

Back in the day I used to teach art history to grades k-8.

Each week we would add a new Master Artist to our list to study.

I would show an image of one of their paintings, say the name of the painting, the name of the artist and then have the students repeat it back to me.

We would discuss the key features of that artist's style. At each class we would run through the list of flash cards, saying together aloud the artists name and the name of the piece. At the end of which time we would add a new artist "Flash Card" and discuss his/her work.  Usually after a brief talk about the artist, the class challenge would be select one of their painting or sculptures and try to reproduce it. I usually gave them a selection of three choices from that artist.

By the end of each school year, each student was able to accurately identify 80 masterworks and the artist who created them.

My daughter recently mentioned that, while she was quarantining, she would like to revisit these
"Art Cards" and refresh her memory.  Well they are buried in a rubbermaid tote in my garage right now, and I can't go hunt for them, but I figured I could recreate for her, an online version.

    -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -  -

So today, being DAY 1 we will start with : Edgar Degas

"Waiting"

"Dress Rehearsal On Stage"

"Blue Dancers"

"Absinthe Drinker"

Edgar Degas: 
He is most known for his paintings of Ballerinas, although there are other subjects he painted such hunting, opera scenes (he was a HUGE opera fan) and other scenes from daily life.
But mostly Ballerinas.

Please Read his bio found here - Edgar Degas

So for practice what we do is look at each picture.  Each time you do, say aloud:

"Edgar Degas

He Painted Ballerinas"

For older students who have supplies on hand, you may wish to attempt to reproduce one of his images.  If you have no paint supplies, you may wish to simply sketch this image.

What is most important in reproducing master works is not that you create an exact replica, but do your best at truly seeing what is happening, and where on the page things are happening, and practice training your eye to see.

It is impossible to recreate exactly.  In the same way the everyone has different writing styles / penmanship, so it is with art.  Next week we will examine this very thing between two famous friends: Claude Monet and his good friend Pierre August Renoir.