David Hockney-inspired Landscape Lesson

Some painting lessons that I do with students are just infectiously fun.  The students are having such a good time painting and discovering what they can do with color that it makes me want to pick up a paint brush and do my own.  I thought I’d share one of these lessons.

This lesson is part of a unit that I do with 3rd graders that helps to answer the very large essential question, “How has the definition of art changed over time?.”  We talk about art, in terms of landscape paintings, before Claude Monet and how important it was to make things look realistic for them to be considered good.  Then we discuss how important Monet was in changing that idea because he tried to capture light and in the process, made things look a little blurry and fuzzy.  Not a popular artist immediately, he changed the art world by making it acceptable to not paint realistically.  After doing a few activities focusing on Impressionism, we move onto David Hockney and a discussion about how art has become more abstract over time.  Although it’s fun and engaging to teach the other stuff, it’s when we move to our Hockney-inspired landscapes that it gets really fun!

I designed this project from a mix of a few sources.  The method behind the project is based on a landscape lesson from the book Children and Painting, by Cathy Weisman Topal.  The Hockney painting that serves as inspiration for our own paintings is Garrowby Hill, 1998.

Garrowby Hill, David Hockney, 1998

First, students begin by painting the horizon line and a river or a road.  Then, they divide the land into smaller sections to show fields, mountains, woods, and/or deserts.

After talking about how Hockney did not always use “normal” colors, students began to fill in their divided areas with color.  Students were encouraged to mix tints and shades to create deeper and richer colors.  And that’s were their excitement takes off!  I don’t think students get/take time to “play” with paint.

Finally, students added “details” to their land areas with pattern and texture.

Don’t these masterpieces look great?!?!

Toys, toys, everywhere!

I should have known that this year’s Christmas would have left us feeling the same way as last year’s Christmas.  Little Bug doubled his toy “collection” through the generosity of Santa, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and numerous other gift givers.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  We are incredibly blessed to have generous family who lavishly spoil this first grandson/nephew.  But after the wrapping paper was gone, we were left with one thought: “What are we going to do with all of this stuff ???”

We don’t have a play room in our house.  In fact our house was small before Little Bug arrived.  It got even smaller when all of the stuff came with him!  I am not a neat person.  Ask my husband…there are piles all over that I need to sort.  But don’t picture a scene from Hoarders.  I’ve gotten neater since becoming a parent.  I think my brain needs it to cope with the innate disorganization that comes with having a little one.  So, when faced with the question of “What are we going to do with all of this stuff,” my answer was to organize the toys.  Big time.  Complete with matching bins, boxes, labels, and categorization.  Is it possible to create OCD in your child?  Maybe.  But my life feels a little more in order after completing this task.

My first task was to look at what toys he had and separate them into categories.  He sure does have a lot of stuffed animals.  And books.  And vehicles.  But I digress…

Next, we purchased additional storage to put in our one extra room in the house that was supposed to be our relaxing office/work room.  It’s now just a work and play room.  No relaxing with a toddler, right?!?  This added to the storage that was already in our living room, nursery, and hallway.

Now comes the overly organized part.  I labeled each bin of categorized toys.  I found these really great customizable luggage labels that I used on the bins.  I created my own labels to insert in Word using a business card template.  I think my husband thinks I’m nuts.  My sitter probably thinks I’m nuts.  But, boy, do I feel better!  Everything has a home now!

One other thing that I did was make sure that I used all the same neutral-colored basket/boxes.  That way, when I wanted to rotate the toys from one room to another, I could do so easily by trading out the boxes, rather than having to empty the contents to switch boxes and keep them matching each room.  Now, all the boxes match every room!

If you’d like to use these labels that I created for free, click Toy labels to download.