Van Gogh Fingerpainting

This project was inspired by Van Gogh's landscapes of, what to me, seems like the countryside of the Europe Van Gogh would have called home. In this project, I finger painted a scene that is behind my parent's home. The swirling style of the sky and the creek follow Van Gogh's painting style along with the mixing of colors and bold lines.

An extension activity I would use with this project would be to have the students create and write a story that went along with the scene. It could be non-fiction or fiction, but the character they choose would have to describe the scene, and how it makes them feel. It's a great writing activity that will result from their own creativity.

Van Gogh Inspired Collage

This project was created using tissue paper, glue, oil pastels, and a metallic Sharpie. The idea was to create our own version of Starry Night by Van Gogh, with a skyline of our choosing. The tissue paper was cut into swirls and glued down. The trees were cut out of construction paper. After everything was laid out and glued, I took a coat of clear adhesive to give the complete project the shine.

An extension activity I would do with this project would be to study the night sky through the use of photography and film. The Northern Lights along with a full moon's glow to a cloudy night with only the stars out. It's a great unit if a class were studying Earth's orbit or the moon phases.

Art Elements & Principles

 Value

 The darkness or lightness of a color; depending on the light touching the object.

 

 Depth

A 3-D area that could be filled with objects.

 

 Balance

Equality on both sides of the work of art.

 Movement

The appearance that the subject is in action.

 

 Unity

The objects in the artwork look like they belong together.

Autobiographical Footprints

This is a photo-example of my Autobiographical Footprints. The project required me to trace one or both of my feet and then using at least 3 medias, I had to represent myself. I chose to represent myself through books. My name is written across the covers of the books and each book, when opened, shows a particular chapter in my life.



The first book holds the basics. A picture of my family, the initials (magazine clippings) of the state I grew up in, and a Venus symbol (made from a key ring and yarn, not visible) to represent my feminine gender. The second book represents my high school years. A photo of my trip to Europe, a picture of our foreign exchange student, a feather to represent my participation in show choir, and an ambulance referencing my vehicle accident. The green "OR" sign (made from felt) is my crossing into adulthood when I moved to the state of Oregon for college. The third book represents my life at the time of creating this project; NSU in winter (cotton ball) and a photo of my other-half.


An extension activity to be used with this art project is to have the students read an autobiography, or biography, of someone they look up to in their Language Arts/Reading class. After reading the biography, they can create footprints to show that person's life. The students would then present their person's feet to their fellow classmates without the need of writing a formal book report.