Art

For the final project of the year, the Grade 5 and 6 students painted self portraits inspired by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. Klimt was a founder of the Art Nouveau movement, which was a new style of art that loved natural shapes, curves, and decorative patterns. He liked to paint people, especially women, who looked realistic but surrounded them with amazing, decorative, and sometimes even non-realistic backgrounds. His father and brother were goldsmiths so he often included real gold in his work, and he would include many geometric patterns in his painting.  

To draw portraits of themselves, the students learnt about the proportions and symmetry of their face. Soft chalk pastel was added to give colour to their skin, hair and eyes. The students painted their backgrounds in earth colours and used Posca paint pens to draw patterns in the style of Klimt around their portrait. Their cloths were painted in metallic paint and as a final touch imitation gold leaf was added. They look simply stunning, a fantastic way to finish the year!