Painting Self Portraits

A couple of weeks ago was Rembrandt's birthday -- I have this great book (Let's Celebrate Today: Calendars, Events, and Holidays Second Edition) that tells about important historic events and famous people's birthdays (today, by the way, is Beatrix Potter's birthday, and Peru's Independence Day, among other things).  Anyway, my plan was to tell the boys a little bit about Rembrandt, show them some of his paintings, then break out the paint ourselves.  Well, it didn't happen on that day, or the next day, or the day after that.  Before I knew it a week had gone by, then 2 weeks ... well, you get the picture.  But we finally got around to it this week.

Actually it worked out quite well as it gave me a chance to pick up some books from the library.  The Art Book for Children was really great -- not too much information for my fidgety kids, but just enough so that they learned something (summer vacation ... pshaw!).

After looking at some of Rembrandt's self portraits, I suggested that the boys try to paint their own self portraits.  I had recently bought some 12" x 12" canvases (something new for us) and thought that this project would be the perfect time to try them out. 

I took a picture of each of the boys so that they would have something to refer to rather than to try and remember what they looked like.  They were allowed to make any face they wanted for the picture and when it came to the painting part, they were not required to make it look anything like the photo -- we're talking extreme artistic licence.

Then, out came the paints and the real excitement began.  After a little guidance (Owen's whole canvas would have been totally black, otherwise, and Laurel thought the table made a better canvas!) they really seemed to get into it.

They were all very pleased with the results and the results were indeed interesting -- nothing at all like the photos (oh well!).

Owen playing in the sun

Isaac frolicking in the forest with a deer

Aidan riding a horse on a sunny day

Laurel in her abstract period

But the photos did come in handy eventually.  This part was fun too!

Now we have some new pieces of art for our gallery!