Vincent Van Gogh: Sunflowers

The artist Vincent Van Gogh has provided us art teachers with a wealth of styles and techniques. I had many great aspirations to have the students create sunflowers with actual seeds, black beans, etc. But when I thought about it, I decided to work with oil pastels because the rich color and texture would mesh well with Van Gogh's Impressionist style. I went out and bought a big, beautiful sunflower so we would have an actual still-life to work with. And of course, what is a Van Gogh lesson without the students asking if he really cut off his ear..and was he really crazy?

So I always tell them...he only cut off the lobe...and yes, he was really crazy. How else would be have created such works of art? Surely a sane mind couldn't produce quite the same caliber of work.

We artists, we're crazy! Teehee

• This is a lesson that takes almost zero preparation, but yields a great result.
• As always, show students examples of the artists' body of work, so they have a grasp of what the artist is about. I have several large Van Gogh books that were passed down to me by my uncle, who was a modern art lover as well.
• I set up a still life with the giant sunflower in a humble little vase and handed out a 9 X12 piece of drawing paper or Bristol board.
• Instruct the students to lightly pencil sketch the still life.
• When they are ready to start coloring, encourage them to use a little bit of pressure, to release the oil pastel's rich color.
• I gave students the liberty to be creative with their vases, so they didn't come out the same.
• As a final touch, I had each student sign their vase, just like Van Gogh did.
• As always, I was impressed with each students take on the sunflower.

The artwork above was created by a third grader.