Emotion Landscapes 7th and 8th

We started off this lesson by learning about my very favorite artist, Vincent Van Gogh! Van Gogh, a post impressionist painter, was a genius at expressing emotion in art. He didn't always want to be an artist in fact he started his career as a preacher, then a missionary, an art dealer, and finally started his art career in his late 20's.  Van Gogh suffered from high anxiety and depression. He loved to paint images of hard working people and express suffering through color, line, and expression.

We brainstormed many emotions and match them with a variety of landscapes. Some examples: Joyful Meadow, Angry Ocean, Insane Waterfall, Mad Mountains, Crazy Storm, Happy Sunset, etc. After brainstorming 4 different layouts We started drawing our best design onto gray paper.

Using oil pastels we started to add color with the same technique as Van Gogh! The key was matching colors to our chosen emotions and making sure not to use solid color but different line just like Van Gogh did in his paintings. The emotion, movement, and variety was so amazing to see.