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Maria Merian Butterfly’s
“I collected all the caterpillars I could find in order to study their metamorphosis.” -Maria Sibylla Merian: Diary entry age 13 Maria Sibylla Merian was a German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator who was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1647. At a time when insects were thought to be “beasts of the devil,” her beautiful and accurate […]
Birgit O’Connor Spring Flowers
“Making art is about finding the true self – not who everyone has told you that you are, but the person you are truly.” – Birgit O’Connor Birgit O’Connor is a self taught watercolour artist who lives in Bolinas of West Marin, California. She specializes in watercolour paintings of flora and landscapes. As a living […]
John James Audubon and a colourful Parrot
“The woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those who sang the best.” – John James Audubon John James Audubon was a French-American ornithologist, naturalist and painter who is most known for his work, The Birds of America. Audubon was born in Haiti in 1785. His father was a French sea-captain and plantation owner. At […]
Hokusai and the Great Wave of Kanagawa
“I have been in love with painting ever since I became conscious of it at the age of six.” – Katsushika Hokusai Katsushika Hokusai was born in Edo, Japan in 1760. He was a painter, printmaker and book illustrator who created more than 30,000 finished pieces of art. He changed his name at least 30 times and […]
Picasso’s Dove of Peace
“The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.” – Pablo Picasso Pablo Picasso is known as one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century. We focussed our studies for this session on his many paintings that depict a dove. In 1949, author Louis Aragon chose the artist’s lithograph, […]
Grant Wood and an Abstract Landscape
“All the good ideas I ever had came to me while milking a cow.” – Grant Wood Today we looked at the artist, Grant Wood, an American painter born in 1891 in Anamosa, Iowa. We learned about his life and career and based our own art project on one of his famous landscapes, Young Corn. Wood’s […]
Gustav Klimt Birch Trees
“Art is a line around your thoughts.” – Gustav Klimt Gustav Klimt and his masterpiece, Farmhouse with Birch Trees served as the inspiration for our tape resist watercolour project. The students learned how to create a foreground, middleground and background and how it impacts composition. I love the vibrant colours that were inspired by the warm spring […]
Cypress Tree Landscape inspired by Van Gogh
“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” – Vincent Van Gogh Road with Cypress and Star by Van Gogh inspired our project today. We started our session learning about the fascinating life of Vincent Van Gogh, one of the most famous painters in modern art. Van Gogh’s bold brush strokes and vibrant […]
Peacock’s Inspired by Audubon
“The woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those who sang the best.” – John James Audubon We started off our Spring Session at Humbercrest Public School with a colourful peacock drawing inspired by the artist, John James Audubon. The students really enjoyed creating the colourful feathers with oil pastels. […]
Georgia O’Keefe – Evening Star
“I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.” – Georgia O’Keefe Georgia O’Keefe is a famous American painter most known for her beautiful paintings of flowers. She also painted many other subject matter including: city scapes, landscapes of the […]