Vincent VanGogh artist study

I don’t know if you noticed, but when I listed our books for France, there was a book or two for Vincent Van Gogh, and for our Thursday art lesson one day we had a mini Vincent VanGogh artist study.  It was a great excuse for me to pull out all of our art supplies and try out a few new techniques.

Vincent Van Gogh artist Study supplies

The First Starry Night (my personal favorite of the books), Vincent Van Gogh: Sunflowers and Swirly Stars,  Katie And The Sunflowers (all of these books are ones my library had), Chalk Pastels, paper (I just used normal typing paper, but you can go fancy and use drawing paper)

What we did for our Vincent Van Gogh artist Study

We started out reading “The First Starry Night” all cuddled up on my bed.  I loved the illustrations in this book in particular because they felt so evocative of VanGogh’s art style.

Next, we watched a few YouTube videos I found on VanGogh.

And my personal favorite, because of the “interactive” feature.

After seeing all of that inspiration, what is left but to make some art ourselves?

Vincent VanGogh worked in acrylic paint, but we do not have his skill level, and it’s harder to achieve the same look he did with acrylic paints than it is chalk pastels, so we worked in chalk.

Their challenge was to create something similar to Van Gogh’s Starry Night.

After a bit of grumbling that we weren’t using paint, they got to work and quite enjoyed the project.

Even going so far as to start on their own projects using the chalk pastels, which to my mind is the sign of a successful art lesson, when they’re inspired to do their own works.

More great middle school learning ideas

Let’s see what I can dig up…

• Layers of the Atmosphere lesson
• How to make a writer’s notebook
• Napoleonic Wars lesson
• Nebraska Unit
• Irrigation System lesson