Van Gogh Starry Night Crayon Resist

Van Gogh loved bright, contrasting colors.  His favorite color was yellow.  

Materials needed:

- Example of the "Starry Night" painting

- Yellow, white and silver crayons

- Black crayon for the cyprus tree

- Watercolor paint (blues and greens)

- Watercolor paper

- Brushes

Directions:

1.  Color with crayon the stars, moon and swirls with the yellow, white and silver crayons.  PRESS HARD!

2.  Color the cyprus tree it the foreground with black.  Kids may also want to draw in the village.

3.  Paint a wash of watercolor over the entire picture.

Claude Monet Sponge Painting

Claude Monet
French Impressionist painter
1840-1926


Materials -
- White paper
- Various pastel colored paints
- Sponges (I used regular kitchen sponges from the dollar store and cut them into smaller 1"x2" pieces
- Examples of Monet's paintings
- Pencils (optional)
- Real flowers for inspiration (optional)

Directions -
1.  Show examples of Monet's paintings, (Water Lilies, Bridge at Giverny) and discuss his painting style.  Monet's paintings have a softer feel.  The paintings look fuzzy upclose but you can really tell what the picture is when you hold it farther away.
2.  Demonstrate how to paint using only the sponges, and not dragging the sponge, just "dip and dab" the sponge onto your paper.  (Children may want to sketch their painting in pencil first)
3.  Encourage the children only paint organic shapes and images - flowers, trees, etc.  Talk about how Monet would go outdoors to paint and was very inspired by nature!

"The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration."  - Claude Monet

DaDa project with Mona Lisa!

The Dada art movement only had one rule - Never follow any rules!
Marcel Duchamp is one of the most famous Dada artists.
He asks the question - What is ART?  He hoped to challenge people's perceptions of what art could be.
His famous painting is of Mona Lisa with a moustache.

I thought it would fun to take the infamous painting of Mona Lisa, that kids of all ages will most likely recognize, and see what happens when we give her a new identity.

Materials - 
- Color copies of the Mona Lisa, can be found online
- 8x10 or 11x14 white paper
- Glue sticks
- Pencils, markers or paints - your choice!

Directions -

1.  Each child will get a color copy of the Mona Lisa.  We discuss the original painting first then I begin to talk about DaDa, explaining that there are no rules and show Duchamp's example.  We talk about creating a new Mona Lisa, giving her a new body or new environment...maybe she's a butterfly, maybe a firefighter....whatever their little hearts desire!
2.  The children begin by cutting out Mona Lisa's face, using her hair too is optional.
3.  Each child then glues down her face on their white paper and begins to sketch their idea for the new Mona Lisa
4.  Once their sketch is complete they add color.
Remember - there are no rules...so if they ask, can Mona Lisa have 2 heads instead of one?
You simply say YES!