Teaching Activity: Drawing Exercise

beginning/intermediate
A

Van Gogh often made pen-and-ink drawings related to his paintings. The pen strokes reflect the way brushstrokes were applied. Study Van Gogh's letter, which includes his sketch of a peasant pulling a harrow across a field, and his drawing Harvest -- The Plain of La Crau. Have students choose a landscape painting they like (not necessarily by Van Gogh) and make a drawing based on it. Suggest that they use a wide lead pencil or broad-tipped marker. By holding it at different angles to the page, they should be able to create various kinds of "brushstrokes" -- dots, dashes, long and short lines, wide lines or thin ones, straight lines or curving. Marks can be set parallel and massed close together or spaced wide apart.

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