RENOIR Part 1: Dancers (Day 33 of 365 Days of ART) Opi Washington Nail Colors

This swatch of nail colors has some very fun ARTISTIC names: “Freedom of Peach,” “Squeaker of the House,” “Yank My Doodle” and “Never a Dulles Moment.”

For Day #33 of the 365 Days of Art, here is some fun nail art color (from OPI).  

Opi has a creative Fall 2016 “Washington DC” line and the above photo shows some of the warm colors from this palette.

Warm and Cool Colors

Here is an example of how the color wheel can “loosely” be split into cool and warm colors. I say loosely because there are colors that fall into both categories depending on intensity and tone. But it is good to start with this split. 

A “student made” bulletin board for warm and cool colors: Split the board in half and decorate one side with warm colors and the other side with cool colors. Usually water (ocean theme) was used for the cool palette and a sun (sunset theme) was used for the warm side. Students could add fish to the ocean with their names on them and then the warm sunshine side could have rays beaming down with names. Letting students come up with options usually brought fresh ideas too. 

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Part II: Renoir

For a couple of years in the art room, January was “Spanish Guitar” month.  Elementary and middle school students explored lessons that connected to Cubism and Impressionism.  

Some younger students made CASTANETS out of cardboard and buttons.  Very easy craft – and provided a nice “make and take” to go home with after the lesson. Castanet supplies: cardboard strips, buttons, glue (and you can have strips of paper and tape to make a holder for the finger).  Cut cardboard into rectangle strips. Glue buttons to each end – bend the cardboard and slide a finger through the holders – it makes a homemade castanet.

 

We would also listen to some Spanish guitar music and explore any side topics that came up.

Renoir’s Dancer paintings are beautiful and colorful – which were usually hanging in the art room on a masterpiece wall – and they can be connected to lessons on fashion, music, history and culture, 

For warm colors, Dancing Girl with Tambourine was a good option and for “cool” colors we would explore the companion piece, Dancing girl with Castanets.

 

Part 3: Five Things About Renoir

1.Renoir was a French painter (1841-1919) who helped start Impressionism in 1870s.

2. Renoir painted more than 200 works of art and he was said to have inspired Picasso, Matisse, and Bonnard.

 

3. In the late 1880’s, Renoir made some decent money from his work and was able to travel.

Renoir’s travels led to some culture rich paintings (because he was able to see so much – and the Dancer Girls are from the exposure). Renoir also made enough money  to afford some decent property.  In my very humble opinion – I believe that fame and money – or lack of fame and money – during an artist’s lifetime will directly impact their output.  It has a direct impact on the work an artist puts out.  And so for Renoir, his money allowed him to give us colorful and culture rich paintings that had the essence of Algeria and Italy.  He might have still had amazing pieces if he never traveled, but obviously they would be different.  Henri Rousseau never made it to a jungle and so his jungle scenes have forest plants – so his lack of funds for travel impacted his output – and some think it was for the better.  Similarly, Vincent van Gogh, who only sold one painting near the end of his life, might have changed his output if his paintings would have taken off and sold.  Vincent’s work was not influenced by rich travel – (he went to the south of France because he could not afford to travel to Japan, and some artists told him the south of France had beauty similar to parts of Japan) and so limitations for Vincent might have infused his work with angst and grit (I believe it was appointed for him so that his work would  have the vibe that it does). Well really there could be so much to talk about with a discussion like this, so let’s just wrap it up and remember that everything overlaps for an artist – and the amount of “sales” success does change the artist’s work. It just does…..

4. Renoir was noted for his feathery brushstrokes (usually showing rural and domestic settings) and this was a harder style to keep painting as he aged.

5. Renoir had arthritis for years, and then a stroke, but he still painted by having brushes strapped to his wrists.

 

See you tomorrow for Renoir part 2.

 

 

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