Picasso and the Girl with the Ponytail by Laurence Anholt

Welcome to another Fantastic Fiction Friday! (Yes, I finally thought of a decent name for it.) Two things before we get to the book:

Happy Birthday, Mom!! Check out these artist palette birthday cakes!

AND

One more cool link (in case yesterday’s link madness wasn’t enough). This one is really fun. At Mr. Picasso Head, you can create your own Picasso-inspired portrait.
_____________

I have recommended Laurence Anholt to you before. Remember The Magical Garden of Claude Monet? Today, I’d like to tell you about another book in the same series: Picasso and the Girl with the Ponytail. This book is also based on a true story.

Sylvette is a shy girl whose neighbor happens to be Pablo Picasso. When Picasso sees Sylvette he decides that he must paint her. He loves her face and her ponytail and thinks Sylvette would be a beautiful subject. She agrees to pose and Picasso creates many paintings and sculptures of his lovely neighbor. When the artwork becomes famous, Sylvette must really put aside her shyness. Eventually, Sylvette is able to achieve her own dream.

But you’ll have to read the book for yourself to find out what that dream is.

I love Anholt’s illustrations in this book. He did a great job of showing the way Picasso’s artwork changed over time.

This picture book has a lot of text and takes about 15 or 20 minutes to read aloud.

Return to main page.

Art Games

This has been a light posting week, huh? I know. I'm busy with my first weeks back to school and I'm sure you are, too. Soon everything will be back to normal, though. When you have a little time, enjoy the fun, interactive art games posted below.

Check out these interactive art games first. If you click on the guitar, you can interact with a cubist painting by Juan Gris. When you've finished, click the menu button. Then click on the picture next to the guitar to learn about portraits. At the end of the tour, the tour guide will paint your portrait. It's pretty funny. I was a pirate art teacher who lived in outer space! Try it for yourself!

Here's another interactive site I think you'll like. An alien lands in Manhattan, New York and decides to go to the Museum of Modern Art. You must give him a tour of the museum. Each exhibit gives you a little history about the artist, shows you a piece of art, helps you to explore the art, and gives you an idea to help you create your own artwork.

Older kids can check out this site that helps you create your own video about art. The site gives you some video clips but you can add pictures of your own artwork (just make sure to get permission first). You can also add your own writing to the video.

Finally, travel through time to Leonardo da Vinci's studio in this ArtEdventure. Someone has used a time machince to change history. You must figure out who and stop him or her from erasing one of da Vinci's paintings.

Return to main page.

Fun Links!!

I found a great cubism project that you might like. It looks like a fun, simple project to do with a group of kids. Create a Cubist Fall Tree.

Also, I added a link to the list in my sidebar but I forgot to tell you that I had done so. In case you haven't already found it, Jenny at Little Acorns has put together a 36-week art curriculum for her daughters. She has obviously put a lot of effort into it and it is fantastic. She has posted it free on her website. I hope some of you will use it this year. I look forward to reading about Jenny and her daughters' art explorations!

Return to main page.

Create Your Own Cubist Photo Collage

If you missed yesterday’s post about cubism, go read it before you try this project. Cubists took everyday objects and (in their minds) took them apart and explored the pieces. Then they put those objects back together in a new way. In this way, cubists were able to show many sides of the same object at the same time.
Supplies Needed:

Digital Camera
Printer
Paper
Construction Paper
Glue Stick
Scissors

Make sure you have permission from a grown-up before you start. If you don’t have a digital camera, try drawing your object from several angles instead of photographing it.

Take pictures of an object from many angles. I choose to photograph a tree. The great thing about digital cameras is that you can take as many pictures as you want and choose which to use later. I think I took 30 pictures of my tree but I only used 5 of the pictures.

Print out about five or six pictures. Regular computer paper will work better than photo paper for this project. I printed three pictures in grayscale (black and white) and two pictures in color. You can decide for yourself if you want your collage to be completely black and white, complete color, or a combination.

Cut your pictures into pieces. I really wanted to use the trunk and branches so I cut those out first. Also, I got a picture with the sun shining over the tree. I knew I wanted to use that, too.

Once you have arranged the major pieces of your collage, begin to fill in the rest. For me, that meant adding leaves.

When you’re pleased with your collage, glue everything down.

Just like the cubists, you may find that your collage is more than just a picture of the object you started with.

Return to main page.

Cubism

In the early 1900s, some artists became interested in African and Native American art. The styles of those cultures inspired cubism.

Cubism began in France in 1907. Pablo Picasso and George Braque began painting figures that were made up of cubes, spheres, cylinders, cones, and other geometric shapes. The paintings looked like someone had cut them up and glued them back together.

And that’s exactly what the cubists had in mind. Just like the ancient Egyptians, cubists wanted to show the most important parts of the things they painted. Look at the face in Juan Gris' Portrait of Picasso (above). Gris shows you every detail of Picasso's face even though you would never be able to see all sides of his face at the same time. The cubists took this idea much further than the ancient Egyptians, of course. Cubists wanted to show all the sides of an object in the same picture.

Some cubist paintings were extremely abstract. In Picasso’s The Guitar Player (above), it is difficult to see the person in the painting.

At first, cubists used very little color in their paintings. They used mostly browns, greys, and blues. In 1912, color re-entered the picture and some artists, like Picasso, began using more then just paint and canvas in their art. You may remember reading about Picasso’s musical collages in which he used paper and cloth in his paintings.

Return to main page.