Holy cow! It's a Landscape
Have you ever driven down a country road and seen cows grazing on a hillside? Or the sun setting over a meadow? These types of scenes are called "Landscapes."
This picture of cows was painted in 1816 by a famous English artist
named John Constable. To see the entire painting, click
here.
Believe it or not, most of the pictures made during the time of Constable
were painted indoors. That's because an artist had to stay close to his
studio. His paints were not very portable, and would dry up if brought
outside. Constable did quick sketches outdoors. But his finished paintings
were made in his studio.
One day someone invented a metal tube, like the type toothpaste comes in. Wow! What a great discovery for landscape artists. Paints could be stored in tubes and taken anywhere. Artists could sit outside and look at the scene they were painting.
Claude Monet was one of these artists. Outside, Monet
watched the sun sparking on the landscape. He painted in quick strokes
of bright colors. He wanted to show how the sunlight danced on the setting.
This style of painting was called "Impressionism". The picture
to the right is a sample of Monet's art, it's called "Wild Poppies".
He painted it in 1893. The poppies are painted with bright dabs of red
paint.
At about the time Monet was painting fields of poppies in France, a baby girl was born on a farm in Greenwich, New York. This little baby would grow up to be one of the most loved artists of her time. Her name was Grandma Moses. She was called "Grandma" because she didn't start painting until she was in her 70's!
She was 87 years old when she painted this picture,
called "Little Boy Blue".
Art Projects For This Lesson
The masterpieces you'll make this month are simply moo-velous!
Project 1: In our first piece you'll learn how to make a landscape look
like it has depth, or "perspective". Have
fun drawing a picture of Shrinking Trees.
Project 2: Learn how to draw a cow in our second project. Add it to your
landscape for a Moo-ving Masterpiece. Holy
cow, you're going to love it!