van Gogh Sunflowers

This lesson was all about drawing from observation, Vincent van Gogh, and the secondary colors.  

After a brief introduction of Vincent van Gogh, I passed out a set of sunflowers in a vase to each table.  Students talked about the shapes the saw in the flowers such as, circles (middle), triangles (petals) and rectangles (stems). While I demonstrated on the board, students used a black oil pastel to draw the table, vase and flowers.  

The next day, students used the secondary colors to paint their sunflowers.  We talked about why Orange, Green and Purple are the secondary colors and how each is made.  Once the painting was complete, students used black tempera paint to outline their artwork.