We have been having so much fun in art and I have so enjoyed teaching all of them. You have some very talented artists! Our time in art is spent first studying an artist and his work. We learn who the artist is, when he/she lived, where they were born, the name of the artwork we are looking at, and when that particular artist painted it. We then talk about what we can learn from that particular artist and practice the techniques. They complete a form on the artist each week so look for it in their bags. If you can, have them keep these pages on the artists in their bags. My plan is to get notebooks for them to keep theses pages in so at the end of the year they can have it to look back on.
Today, we studied Giotto (pronounced ZHEE-O-TO) and looked at his painting called St. Francis Giving His Mantle to a Poor Man. He painted this in 1299. From Giotto we learn about texture in our artwork. I taught them techniques for making things appear bumpy, prickly, and shaded. We also learned how to make blades of grass. This was everyone's favorite.
We also painted with texture today as well. We learned that Giotto's paintings were known for having a 3 dimensional look. This was partly because of the paint he used. Giotto made all his own paints (and tools as well), called egg tempera paint. He used things like clay, minerals, berries and even insects that he ground into a fine powder. We substituted with chalk ground into a powder (although a lot of the kids said they want to make some paint the original way with insects in particular). I told them of course that they would need to ok this ahead of time with their parents. I did not have the time to let them make the paint but many would like to. Below is the recipe to make egg tempera paint.
Egg Tempera Paint Recipe
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons water
1/3 teaspoon vinegar
ground chalk to desired thickness (please crush chalk in a plastic bag so that you do not inhale the chalk dust)
I look forward to seeing them all again next Wednesday!
Suzi Costlow
