Learning Playdate with Mom: Copying the Masters

About a month ago one of my close friends posted the coolest picture on instagram. Her 6 yr old daughter is a gem in the world. One Sunday they were painting and her mom posted a picture of J looking a picture of the painting Starry Night by Van Gogh on her ipad and attempting to copy it. She did this on a couple different occassions. While i knew that Madalynn is only 4 1/2 and still working on the small motor skills of staying in lines and patience when she colors or paints, I thought this is something we could definitely do in conjunction with Museum Fridays.

Did we already take pictures of quilts to make quilt blocks? Didn't she loves copying something and making her own?

Well, I showed Madalynn the pictures of J doing the painting and she said, "J is older than me mom. I will stick to my paintings until I am older like her." So....we left it alone.

I checked out some artist biography books at the library three weeks ago. Renoir, Van Gogh, Picasso, Rembrandt, and Michelangelo. I thought that would be a good mixture of styles and mediums to look over and discuss. Well, she was looking through the Van Gogh book last Friday and just identifying landscapes, portraits and still lives and she came across Starrry Night. Well, this time he interest was peeked. Finding a picture yourself in your own book has that affect apparently. Well, I took lots of pictures..naturally.

At our house we use my acrylic paints to paint. We use a sturdy ice cube tray for the paints. She has her own set of brushes that we purchased a Habor Freight...like 10 brushes for $2. We put a dry erase board behind the painting. This minimizes the clean up of painting to almost nothing. She never gets any paint on the table. The cardboard on the back of the dry erase board is completely ruined from washing, but it was never needed anyways. I always make her wear a bib. I am sad because I know somewhere in this house we have a kid painting bib and I just can't seem to find it anywhere anymore.

The following pictures range from the beginning, Daddy's instructions and helps, to finished product. Russ followed up afterwards and explained the color wheel to her again. I am going to start only giving her the primary colors in a couple months and make her start mixing to create the colors she wants. It is the next step to painting. The last picture was taking an hour after she went to bed that night. I got side tracked and we didn't take a picture or get it put up on the door. She came out of her room and insisted that we put it up before she would go back to bed.....so, we did and she went straight to bed and sleep. Silly girl.