Painting Portraits

We are currently doing an author study of Tommy dePaola. Other authors we have studied include Robert Munsch, Marie-Louise Gay, and Dr. Seuss. The first book we read by Tommy dePaola was "The Art Lesson". The children were interested in the story of Tommy, a little boy, who starts kindergarten and is sad to learn that his teacher wants all the children to copy artwork instead of creating their own. After reading the story the children brainstormed ways in which they created artwork in our classroom. We discussed the still life paintings we had done last week and how even though each person painted the same thing, no two paintings were alike. 

One of the children asked if we could paint one another instead of flowers. We explored a book called "Artists" that showed many examples of living subjects that had been painted by famous artists.

After circle we invited children to paint one another. The artist used a palette of colours while the subject sat still with his or her face displayed in a frame. The frame helped the artist to focus on what to paint - helping him or her pay close attention to detail.

The children were so engaged and focused on the task at hand.

Their finished works of art were simply beautiful!  Each unique and special in its own way!