Wednesday, June 10, 2009

An Afternoon with Kandinsky

With our summer underway school wise, we've mostly been taking it easy. I have been mulling over our summer routine and don't have it all solid yet in my head. However, I realize that the kids still need structure or they get grumpy, impatient, and generally foul. Yes. Foul. So, I thought a bit and set to gathering materials for a nice art project.

I picked Kandinsky in the end and it was a fun time. We learned how he was one of the first artists to really see art in separate elements than all together as an image you would see. You know...abstract art!

Here are some great art resources that I used to put this together- The Usborne Book of Art which I use to show various works and get information about the art or the artists, The Usborne Art Treasury which gives you projects to do to imitate the masters, Discovering Great Artists is another book that has wonderful projects based on the works of many artists.
Here are the materials we used. Tube watercolors (which I think I finally have the hang of...), watercolor paper- if you do not have watercolor paper you simply must get some. Watercolors really look superior on the special paper, various sized brushes, oil pastels and paint palettes.

The first thing I did was read about the Russian painter Vassely Kandinsky and how he thought painting was just like music. Some were single songs and other great symphonies. He thought that music could influence you paint. So, we tried it!

J4 always enjoys painting!

Bach's Brandenburg Concerto's produced smooth lines from our artists.

R9's Jars of Clay Painting- the song Flood generally produced some harsh lines.

E10's Jars of Clay painting

J4 made this one while we listened to Flood by Jars of Clay

The project called for the circles done in oil pastels and the squares painted with water colors. The oil pastel provided a resist and it turned out nicely.

Oil pastels are messy but they are fun!

I learned that J4 is very much a perfectionist. He was extremely unhappy because his circles didn't look as good as he wanted.

First I folded the paper and then the kids drew concentric circles with oil pastels.

This one is mine. Oil pastels are very soothing.

R9 works on hers. She's done a Kandinsky on canvas with acrylic as well.

She had fun doodling with the paints long after we were done and even wrote a poem to go with this one.

R9's finished Kandinsky

8 comments:

Donna(mom24boyz) said...

This is a great idea. I know what you mean about letting them lose structure just makes things go a little nutty. The other day I was cutting some stuff out for our FIAR study of Night of the moonjellies...and my husband said "I thought we decided the kids were done for the summer break" I then said...well yeah, but Timmy begs me to do school with him..I have to keep him busy with something! Even this morning, he was begging again to study more on jellyfish.

On another note...I have to get those mats your kids are using below their artwork. Those look nice and large for placing over my dining room table---which is where we prefer to do school. Where did you get them? I totally need them!

Amy @ Hope Is the Word said...

This looks like so much fun! I like the idea of doing these projects in the summer. Thanks for sharing!

Dana Leeds said...

Great project! (I need to post about our recent art study, too.) I love how these turned out. And, I'm curious about the colored mats you all are using under your artwork. What are they? (I just noticed Donna asked about them,too)

Anonymous said...

Back to the garden post. This year I found these little pellets that you soak and they expand and the seed is much easier to transplant. I found using seed starter soil was so fine I could not transplant. I have even put the little pellets right in the soil from the start and put the seed in it for a great start.

becky

Shannon said...

Love these! You all did a terrific job. Next year I want to start doing art projects in the style of different artists. Which book is your fave for projects? The Usborne Art Treasury or Discovering Great Artists? I'm tempted to buy both, but will start with just one. :)

Heather said...

I would get both, but I think Discovering Great Artists has more detail and more projects.

I do love the ones in the Usborne book though so don't wait too long to get it!

Heather

Mom Guide said...

My ds said "Hey it's a Safe Side Super Chick Cup!"

LOL

Dana Leeds said...

I just posted a link to your post. I was thinking it'd be a great project for Pi Day!