Cindy Crushes Programming: Seurat Inspired Paintings

I have always loved the art of Georges Seurat. We are lucky enough to live close to the home of his most famous work A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte  which lives at the Art Institute of Chicago. This piece became more famous after been featured in the classic film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off as an example of Pointillism which is a type of painting where the image is made from a series of dots. Today I am sharing with you an easy and affordable program to do with tweens and teens based on the words of Georges Seurat.

Supplies:

• Paints  (good old fashioned washable kids paint will work just fine here, nothing expensive or fancy)
• Pencils with erasers 
• Watercolor Paper (bigger paper make it easier)

Step 1: Finding Inspiration

Find an image you want to make a picture of. I tried to use simple images. I told the teens to look for an image that would be easy to recreate. I told them to use their phones if needed. Most of the teens I had chose trees. Especially when beginning, easier is, well, easier.

Step 2: Painting

Put the pencil eraser in the paint and start creating your painting. Be sure to make sure you keep putting fresh paint on the eraser. Press the eraser firmly on the paper. 

You want to keep making dots close together. It really is just a slower type of painting. The background should be a different color of dots. It makes it easier to tell what the image is.

Step 3: Let the paintings dry

Final Thoughts

This was a fun painting. I had trouble getting it ready for the teens. I used a smaller canvas to practice and it did not work so I got a larger one and it helped the image come through. I would have made this a longer program. It was an hour long. I would have made it 1 and ½ hours. 

More Art Based Programs at TLT

Filed under: Art, Cindy Crushes Programming, Crafts, DIY, Teen Programming, Teen Programming in a Box