Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Tuesday, May 9, 2017 -- Mattie died 399 weeks ago today.

Tonight's photo was taken in July of 2009. Mattie was home from the hospital between treatments and wanted to help us paint the deck. Frankly I don't know where we got the energy to paint the deck, but we most likely wanted to keep Mattie engaged and occupied. Mattie, prior to cancer, always helped us paint. He was very good at it..... neat and precise. However, Mattie's arms post-surgery were never the same. So as you can see he was using his left foot (the only appendage NOT operated on) to paint. I am sure I thought this was a sight at the time, which was why I snapped a photo. 


Quote of the day: There are always flowers for those who want to see them. ~ Henri Matisse


I went to Mattie's school today for the third and final session with the kindergarten class. Two weeks ago we covered Picasso, yesterday we discussed Matisse and today we talked about the friendship/rivalry between these two amazing 20th Century artists. Picasso and Matisse were competitors and they both would admit that they studied each other's works and in the process adopted some of the same techniques. Picasso began to integrate color and Matisse shapes. But it was in this competition, that each artist strove to be the best, and out do the other. 

I showed this short video to the class today...........................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOi2s1tuEr4&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL9AEA8A82B409ECC6

This year I kept my presentations down to ten to 15 minutes. The remainder of our hour together was dedicated to a hands on activity. I brought in the vase, flowers and fruit today so the children could paint their interpretation of this still life. Picasso and Matisse did many still lives, but the beauty of these artists was they used their imagination and the result was something that was abstract rather than bordering on realism. 







Here is one interpretation of the still life 
scene above!

Here is another painting. The children were encouraged to find their inner Picasso and Matisse. That they could paint using concepts from one or both of these artists. For the most part, each of the seven years I have done this, children gravitate to Matisse.... the master of colors. 

 Another example!

After the painting session was over, we placed the canvases outside to dry. It made for a very colorful backdrop. As you can see each painting is quite different. Which got to the my original point with the class. Our art is original because each of us brings to it our own thoughts and feelings. I am not sure how I balanced this with Walk plans, but I managed and it was a positive diversion.