Second and third graders have been working on a landscape inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night.

After learning a little about the life and work of van Gogh in a brief Brain Pop video, students learned that The Starry Night was painted as he was recovering in a hospital.

They discussed the mood of his painting. Some students thought the landscape had a peaceful mood while others felt it was a melancholy artwork. Nonetheless, they began making their own version of the Starry Night-Bethlehem style.

They drew much of their pieces like van Gogh’s, but students were allowed to use creative license for the buildings, land and trees. Everyone drew a stable with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. Some decided to add an angel, animals and a special Jesus’s star.

They used oil pastels to color everything except the sky. They talked about how they could blend their oil pastels together to make their two dimensional shapes look more three dimensional and less flat. Next time, watercolor paints-blue, turquoise, and violet- will be used to paint their sky. The students did an amazing job drawing and coloring their landscapes.  The creative ways they chose to use the oil pastels is impressive!