Van Gogh Inspires Year 7

This was a great task that I undertook with my mentor teacher while on teaching rounds last year.

While this task was designed to allow students to practice using paint, it could easily be expanded into a much more in-depth task. Students could explore more of the work of Vincent Van Gogh and other Post-Impressionist artists or could look into colour theory, discussing why the artists placed certain colours next to or behind others.

Students began by finding a black and white portrait photograph which could be photocopied up to A3 size. They lightly traced the basic shapes of this image onto their A3 page and then added their first layer of thin paint. Each of the different main shapes (hair, face, clothing, background) were painted a different colour.

Once this first layer of paint had dried, students began layering their colours. They needed to pick a contrasting colour to the one they had painted the background. The paint strokes, short or long should give the painting some movement and texture.

Following this second layer, a third layer of paint was added. Again, this was done in short or long strokes and should have followed the lines that were painted in the previous layer.

This is the final artwork that was completed as an example to show students.