LESSON PRESENTATION INSTRUCTIONS
MOVEMENT
STARRY NIGHT
Lesson Objectives: Students will create their own replica of Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night using crayons and watercolors. Students will learn about movement through the swirls in Van Gogh’s night sky.
Time Required: 1 hour
Artist: Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night
Website: http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starryindex.html
Materials:
White construction paper 9×12
Construction paper crayons: black, white, blue, orange, yellow, lime green
Blue watercolor paint
Paintbrushes
Water
Paper towels
Silver glitter glue spray (optional)
Presentation:
Discuss the artist Van Gogh. Discuss how he achieves a sense of movement in the painting, like a roller coaster for your eyes as you travel along the swirls in the sky to the moon, down to the houses on the hillside, to the cypress tree, which directs your eye back up to the swirls for another ride. Discuss the painting in great detail (ie how he does the stars as round circles) since they will be doing their own Starry Nights.
Procedure:
- Pass out white paper and have the kids put their names on the back.
- While pressing hard on their crayons, color a cypress tree, stars, a moon, swirls in the sky, a hillside and houses. Use white too, even though the students will have to use their careful eyes to see what they are doing. It will pop later when the watercolor paint is added.
- When finished, paint over entire page with blue watercolor paint. The crayons will resist the paint, making all the crayons, especially the white, pop out.
- Options: When dry, spray with glitter glue for a sparkly effect.
