Starry night project for Children      Starry Night Project For Children    Starry Night Art Project     

Van Gogh´s Starry Night

My 7th and 8th grade art students are learning about Van Gogh. I printed off a color copy of his famous painting ¨Starry Night¨ and cut it into 16 equal sections. I gave each student one section and a larger paper (11.5 x 15). They were instructed to enlarge the small thumbnail onto the larger paper with tempera paint giving special attention to Van Gogh´s brushstroke. The students got their own palettes, brushes and paint. They were told to only ¨pump¨ one pump of each color and then when that is used, get another pump. This reduces wasting the paint. A lot of the students needed to make brown by mixing red, yellow and blue. They also had practice mixing the tints and shades of blue, yellow, green, etc. Many students needed to be reminded to put the paint on ¨thick¨ like Van Gogh. After I allowed them to paint the way they thought matched Van Gogh´s style the best, I pointed out the sections of Van Gogh´s artwork that have small dashes. I asked them to make sure they included the short brushstrokes or ¨dashes¨ in their paintings if they had not done so already. By layering the colors of tints and shades, it added richness to the painting. This exercise got the students talking about the use of paint and brushstrokes on a deeper level because they could reflect on their own experiences.