Art History: Gustav Klimt

The girls have been learning a little art history about Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), who created several paintings of different types of woods.  

We're keeping a 3-ring binder with all the artists that we'll be studying, including some of their artwork.  Gustav Klimt painted the Tree of Life in 1908 and was our inspiration for the girls' newest masterpiece.   

The girls' interpretation of the Tree of Life.  

 

 Materials Needed: 

• White canvas 
• Paint brushes
• Black and gold acrylic paint 
• Oil pastels

I purchased the canvases at Michaels, while they were 40% off, then used my additional 15% teacher discount, which made them extremely affordable! 

I painted the canvases using black acrylic paint.  

 Then, it was time for the girls to start creating their Tree of Life.  They began by making one long straight line for the center tree trunk. 

Followed by making several branches coming off the center tree trunk.

Lastly, they made several more curly tree branches.

Their blank trees...

Izzie's Tree of Life, 7 years old

Mac's Tree of Life, 4 years old

They couldn't wait to begin decorating their tree with an assortment of oil pastels.

The finished trees!  

 

I LOVE the way they turned out and they look fabulous hanging in my living room!