Showing posts with label painter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label painter. Show all posts

July 15 - Happy Birthday, Rembrandt

    Posted on July 15, 2022     


This is an update of my post published on July 15, 2011:




Have you heard of the artist named Rembrandt? Did you know that his real name was Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn?

One of the most important Dutch artists in history, Rembrandt lived during the 1600s, a period we now call the Dutch Golden Age.

Rembrandt is especially known for his portraits and self-portraits. Here are three self-portraits from different times of Rembrandt's life:




Try creating your own self-portrait. Here are some ideas:

Choose a photo of yourself and carefully sketch with pencil what you see. Try to focus on the shapes formed by the “negative space” between your eye and eyebrow, for example, or between your lower lip and chin line. Notice how dark and light different areas of your photo are, and try to capture that in your drawing. It might help if you make a black-and-white copy of your photo before starting your sketch.



Or make an enlarged copy of a photo - and then cut it in half. Attach one half to a piece of paper - and try to draw the missing half!!

Sit in front of a mirror and sketch yourself. This is more difficult because you will be moving and may also change expression, but it is a fun experiment to try.



If you get permission to do so, you can use special
easily-removable markers to draw a self-portrait
RIGHT ON a mirror!

Enlarge a photo, using a copier, and create grid of evenly-spaced lines on the enlargement. Use very light pencil lines to lay down a proportional grid on your drawing paper. (In other words, even if the squares in the drawing-paper grid are larger than those on the photo, make sure that both grids are the same number of squares high and wide.) Then copy the dark and light areas in each square of the photo onto the drawing paper.



Here is a WikiHow article about self-portraits. 






Plan ahead:


Check out my Pinterest boards for:

And here are my Pinterest boards for:



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February 13 - Happy Birthday, Grant Wood

       Posted on February 13, 2022

This is an update of my post published on February 13, 2011:






An American painter painted American Gothic—which became an American icon.

Born on this day in 1891, Grant Wood may be known largely for his paintings - especially one particular painting! - but he worked as an artist with printmaking, ink, charcoal, metal, wood, and found objects. He did all kinds of things that involve art skills but that aren't necessarily considered “fine art”—painting advertisements, sketching pictures for fliers, designing stained-glass windows, teaching art, and even serving in the army as a camouflage painter. He even designed corn-themed décor for a hotel!




When it came time to design Iowa's 2004 state quarter, decision makers decided to use a Grant Wood backdrop—and clearly labeled the picture “Grant Wood.”


Grant Wood talked his dentist into posing as a farmer for the painting American Gothic, and his sister Nan posed as the farmer's daughter. Many people think that the painting is a critical comment on the narrow-mindedness and repression of rural America—but Wood himself rejected that interpretation. Some people point out that it displays traditional gender roles, with the farmer holding the pitchfork and the woman wearing an apron, and some people take the painting as honoring steadfast spirit and hard work. Apparently the painting can mean many different things to many different people—and it has been parodied many, many times.



American Gothic was a big hit right away—it created a sensation at an art show, won a prize, and was purchased by the Chicago Art Institute.


Parody the American Gothic Pair

Many artists, both professional and amateur, have created their own versions of this iconic painting. Why don't you try one of your own?

Think about switching up what the characters are wearing, what they're holding, even what is in the background. This painting is so familiar, you don't necessarily have to keep much the same to qualify as a parody.




Lean more about Grant Wood here.


Also on this date:









(Date varies)





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November 21 - Happy Birthday, Rene Magritte

  Posted on November 21, 2021


This is an update of my post published on November 21, 2010:



Rene Magritte was a Belgian artist who was born on November 21, 1898. Rene Magritte was a surrealist. Like other surrealist art, his paintings were surprising, unexpected, humorous in some cases, and (of course) surreal.

The idea of surrealism is to look at ordinary things in different ways.


Magritte made portraits of men in bowler hats—portraits with a weird twist that always hide the faces. For example, in one painting an apple hangs directly in front of the man's face.




Magritte also painted scenes in which the foregrounds were mixed in with the backgrounds, and he even painted some paintings of paintings.


Check out the short Magritte article at Art Smarts 4 Kids and click all the links to see these and other Magritte awesomeness. 

Art Smarts 4 Kids also has an idea for making a Magritte-style picture here. 


One of Magritte's paintings was called Personal Values. It looked like a room with various items—each drawn to a different scale—inside.


Use the picture as inspiration to make your own Personal Values poster—either draw, painting, or collage pictures of things that are important to you. 


Browse some Magritte images here. 























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