Fifth Grade Art Lesson 23

Looking At "Starry Night" by Vincent Van Gogh Part 3 Landscape Painting

Objective:

The student will complete their own landscape painting using the style of Vincent Van Gough.

Materials:

Canvas or paper, paper plate, primary, black and white acrylic paint, a variety of brush sizes, water, paper towels

Procedure:

A landscape painting has three parts: foreground, middle ground, and background. You may have noticed that in Van Gogh's Starry Night, the cypress tree is the foreground, the village and orchards is the middle ground, and the mountains are the background. Today we are going to paint a landscape using the style of Vincent Van Gogh. If you can view an outdoor scene from your school, use this for the subject of your painting. If not, search for as many examples of landscape paintings as possible to get ideas. I will use this landscape by Grant Wood called Fall Plowing. Begin as we did with Starry Night by blocking in with base colors the different areas of your landscape. Once you have this completed, begin building up your color by dabbing your paint in short brush strokes onto your canvas to add details. Be sure you allow your paint to actually mix on the canvas. Also remember to use short, thickly painted brush strokes. Ideally, your finished work will be your own creation with a clear influence from Vincent Van Gogh.

Conclusion:

Encourage the students to paint as many landscapes as time allows. Working in Van Gogh's style allows for quick and free manipulation of paint. Mount this work and display it for everyone to enjoy.

Artwork and Examples used in this lesson

“Fall Plowing”, by Grant Wood

Teachers Example