Summer Pinterest Challenge 2019: Week 6

 Summer vacation has officially ended at our house and while we have returned to routine and bedtimes, we do have one more art project to share with you.  This is a great chance to fit in one more art project before you start school or pin it for an activity on a day where your kids are at home, whether for snow (we don't have those), or a holiday.  I know I am already looking at other artists to do during Christmas Vacation.  We have just had so much fun learning about artists and their art this summer. 

As a kid, I remember my mom liking Georgia O'keefe.  I remember her doing a bulletin board in her classroom and talking about her being one of her favorites.  I could be mistaken, but it's a vague memory I have from childhood.  O'Keefe is definitely different from the other artists we talked about this summer (Picasso, Kandinsky, Seurat, Van Gogh, and Matisse), but she has a beautiful story and some of the most gorgeous paintings of flowers.  She grew up loving nature and seeing things that most people miss as the hurry through life. She hoped to urge people to slow down and look around, so she painted pictures of nature, large and colorful.  We did a lot of talking about why it's good to take time and look around and admire the beauty of God's creation.  You can definitely see it when you look at O'Keefe's work. 

For this art project, there were a lot of ideas on Pinterest, but we went with just drawing large flowers on our 8x11 painting paper (just a book from Target. . . pretty sure it's that Up&Up brand that's cheap and perfect for keeping around for your kids to do all sorts of art projects).  We used tempera paints. . . I am partial to Crayola.  Their tempera paints are nice, thick, with rich colors.

 We talked about O'keefe's flower paintings being only 1 flower, BIG, and barely any negative space with the petals often hanging off the edge of the canvas.  The kids got to draw their own flowers and then choose their colors.  We talked about white and black paint and what happens when we combine one of them with another color and how you can make shades and tints (a lesson we did together awhile back).  I kind of just let the kids paint in peace and watched to see how their creative juices get inspired by other artists.  We aren't setting out to simply copy another artists work, but to be inspired to try new things and take risks when armed with paper and and a paint brush. 

 I cannot begin to express how much I love their paintings.  Weston did the yellow and brown flower, and decided to not paint the negative space because he had an idea in his head for another art project that he wanted to start ASAP.  So, while he told me at the beginning that he did NOT want to do art the day we did this, he had fun and then I couldn't get him to stop painting.  The wheels in his head were spinning! 

 Let's also not talk about how my almost 11 year old is looking more like he's a teenager every day.  Oiy Vey.  Send help.  Just kidding!  I love the things that they have created.  I had fun, joining in and getting to paint, too! 

We read these three books before starting our paintings and they really helped us understand Georgia O'Keefe's life and the way she painted.  I am pretty sure that her story inspired us!  While both Through Georgia's eyes and My Name is Georgia were very similar, they both gave some different perspectives on her life and art.  And once again, we found the O'Keefe version of my favorite art books, which was so much fun! 


 Here are some more facts on our art project:

O'keefe books:
Through Georgia's Eyes
My Name is Georgia
O'keefe (My favorite)
Georgia O'Keefe 

Catch the rest of the Summer Kids Art Challenge here:
Week 1: Kandinsky
Week 2: Seurat
Week 3: Picasso
Week 4: Matisse
Week 5: Van Gogh 

 Art Supplies:
Tempera Paint in assorted colors (we used Crayola)
pencil
drawing paper
paint brushes (our favorite's are these from Ikea)

Don't forget to post a picture and use the hashtag:

#ootrbsummerkidsartchallenge 

Happy Creating!