Friday, March 6, 2009

Picture Study: Weeks 27-28

Week 27:


Paul CézanneHarlequin, 1888-1890

We discussed the use of shapes in Cezanne's paintings and what a harlequin was, hence these observations LOL:
"Her/ his diamond patterned suit is black and red."
"A harlequin is a mute character in pantomime."
A Wikipedia biography of Cézanne and another biography and gallery of works here.

Week 28:


Johannes Vermeer
A Lady Writing, c. 1665


Personally I was very taken by this painting but DS is still not as enthusiastic about these short picture study sessions as I had hoped. We may switch to reading Mike Venezia's Artist biographies if he continues to be uninspired (hopefully it isn't one of those attempts of mine where I am more excited about a project or curriculum than he is).

Anyway, here's a little something about Vermeer and his writing lady.

And DS's little notes:
"She's writing with a quill."

and later, with a little encouragement from me:
"The artist uses browns and blacks for the background." and
"The subject wears lighter colors than the background."

2 comments:

  1. I think if I remember right, without going back through your posts, that you are using a cool art calendar you found and are recording his observations in the calendar. This is a great idea, but since he is not responding as well as you hoped, here is what worked for me to peak my DS' interest. I checked out various art books in the library (usually for children, like those by Blizzard) and we just paged through them and I would tell him maybe one line about the painting, as little as who the artist was and the name of the painting. Then I had him page back through and pick a favorite. That would be the artist I would focus on for the next week or two. First I would find a copy of that painting (or one by the same artist) on Google Images to use as our computer wallpaper. Then I would try to find a simple biography (Mike Venezia is good for this), or a book with other paintings by the same artist we could look at. When we finished with that one, we would pull the art book out and he would pick a new favorite.

    By doing this I was trying to follow his interests within the subject. Once he had a love (or at least a "like") of art, then I could direct it a little more with my choices. You could do this with your calendar. Who says you have to go in date order? Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now that's an amazing idea...why didn't I think of that (slap on forehead!)? Thank you!

    ReplyDelete

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