Beautiful Irises!

Purple Irises, by Jackie (adult)
tempera paint/oil pastel on watercolor paper

This week we examined the works of Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, who is considered one of the greatest Post-Impressionist artists.

Did you know? Van Gogh only took up painting during the last ten years of his life, and many of his most famous works were painted during the two years prior to his death. He sold only one painting during his lifetime! After his death, his works became incredibly popular, selling for astronomical sums at auctions.

Scarlet Irises, artist age 9
tempera paint/crayon on watercolor paper

Van Gogh's life was a series of ups and downs, but one thing that made him happy (besides painting) were the beautiful iris gardens at Saint Paul-de-Mausole in France. So, he explored this subject often and painted a series of irises - both in the garden and in vases. 

Irises make us happy too, so we decided to paint our own versions of van Gogh's Irises.

Blue and Purple Irises, artist age 11
tempera paint/oil pastel on watercolor paper

One thing we noticed about van Gogh's irises, (and most of his other paintings) was that his brush strokes were very interesting and expressive. They seemed to talk to us or to express what he was feeling as he was painting. Indeed, van Gogh was a predecessor of the Expressionism movement in modern art. 

Blue Irises, artist age 8
tempera paint/oil pastel on watercolor paper

To create our irises, we did not use oil paint and brushes as van Gogh did. Instead, we used tempera paint and - our fingers! That's right, we finger painted. This allowed us to use our fingers just like brushes, and in this way we were able to connect more closely with the painting process and express ourselves through paint strokes made directly to the painting surface.

Soft Blue Irises, artist age 14
tempera paint on watercolor paper

Before we began to paint, we had a quick lesson in drawing irises using this simple guide. We drew them directly on the paper using black crayons or oil pastels. Then we added stems and long, sword-shaped leaves.

I set up our colors in foam egg cartons for easy finger dipping. We also had plenty of white paint to add to bold colors to make pastels and tints like lavender, sky blue, and mint green.

Blue-Violet Irises, by Tasha (adult)
tempera paint/oil pastel on watercolor paper

Finger painting is a lot of fun and a great way to loosen up and form a direct connection with one's artwork.  The fingertips are used to layer or blend and make new colors directly on the paper. You can add highlights and shadows with just a touch of white or a shadowy shade of color. You can create textures by dabbing, swirling, smearing, and mashing paint as needed. 

Painters learn as they go how and where to use bold colors and how to blend colors for more subdued areas, such as the background. They even learn how to fill in the smallest areas using just the tip of a finger. This all becomes part of the creative process. 

To learn more about finger painting at any age, visit Iris Scott's website (love the name), a contemporary artist and fine-art oil finger painter. 

If you would like to learn more about painting van Gogh's Irises and more student artwork, visit our previous weblog post, Van Gogh's Irises.