SECOND GRADE . . . Spring is here!

Painting by Ryan

Inspired by the artwork of Vincent van Gogh, second graders painted a still life in art class. A still life is an arrangement of everyday objects and by its very definition, the objects are inanimate, not moving, or "still." For our paintings we used a vase with an arrangment of wild flowers. Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890), a Dutch post-impressionist artist, is well known for his painting of "Sunflowers." He painted with short directional brush strokes that helped to define the shape and movement of his compositions.

To explore this style of artwork, we painted our vase, table and back wall with bright colors and added patterns with our brushes all over the page. Then we learned a technique for painting flowers using the thickness of the brush to create the petals. We did not draw our flowers, but went right to paint, letting our brushes create each blossom. They all look like beautiful bouquets of wildflowers! Just like Vincent did with his sunflower still life, we signed our names right on the vase.

Here are some examples of our work. To see all of our 2nd grade flower paintings, click on this link for artsonia.com.  http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=114839

Painting by Dylan 

Painting by Zahra

Painting by William K.

Painting by Savanna

Painting by Jack

Painting by Jonah