Van Gogh's Style

Van Gogh's Style in Fingerpainting These two projects were based on a particular artist's way of life and style, this artist was a man by the name of Vincent Van Gogh.  We learned that he was the oldest son of a Protestant Minister, he didn't start painting until the age of 28 in which he taught himself, and he sold just one painting during his lifetime!  As we became familiar with Van Gogh's background, we got to see his style of art.  He used a lot of movement in his paintings, which is why we emphasized movement in our Van Gogh projects.

The first project was the fingerpainting project.  We were to use our fingers to imitate movement within a landscape design like Van Gogh did.  It was neat to be able to be creative with my fingers to create a landscape of my own.  This fingerpainting we did brought back great childhood memories of painting with my hands! :)  Using the paint strokes from my fingers, I made a sunset scene for my background, because of my great interest in watching sunrises and sunsets!  I started with making the yellow sun, and moved outward on my paper.  I used various shades and tints of red to make the evening sky.  I used curvy movements and lines to show movement like Van Gogh did.  For my middle ground I included a little town with homes, a church, and a few shops which are introduced by a black road running across the scene.  For my foreground, I have a grassy hill and tree which is overlooking the town and the beautiful sunset wrapping up the day.  This painting gave me insight of what type of style Van Gogh had when he made his masterpieces that we are able to enjoy today!

For an extension activity in the classroom, it would be neat to have the students paint three landscape designs using their own creativity.  It would be of the morning, during the day, and at night, and incorporate Van Gogh's style of curves and movement in them.  I think it is great to see how each student views the different times of our day, and the type of landscape that is perceived using their creative minds.  Then we would have a showcase, where we would have the students display their three fingerpainted artworks showing Van Gogh's painting style in our classroom.  This project gives the children an opportunity to be creative and work freely with their hands using paint to create their Van Gogh outdoor scenes!

"See the Beauty in Each Day"