I found an interesting book in the library last week, which I got out for Iona:
"Getting Into Art: People" . It combines information on various famous artists with suggestions for children to make their own similar art. I remember a year or so ago we had an art day at our fun club and I ran an activity on
Arcimboldo, making portraits using photos of fruit and vegetables. This book suggested an activity using fruit and veg to make prints, in the shape of faces, so I suggested on Monday that Iona might like to do that. She was very keen, so I set up her painting things outside, with florets of broccoli and cauliflower, carrot sliced both longitudinally and transversely, the green part of a spring onion, a slice of celery, a mushroom sliced in half, and half the skin of a passion fruit. I would have liked to offer more options, but we were a bit short of fruit and veg to eat ourselves, which I thought took priority!
I demonstrated first to Iona what to do by printing my own veggie face.
Iona started to copy me, but then decided that a paint brush was easier to use and just turned hers into an ordinary (though quite good) picture of Smurfette.
I then used the vegetables to paint my own version of Smurfette, to give her a better idea of how it was meant to be.
After this Iona got into the swing of it a bit better and made a picture using the vegetables to print, although she forgot to do it as a portrait.
Overall, I think this could have gone a bit better, but am pleased that she did at least do a version of what I asked her to. Her painting skills are getting better all the time, and she uses the paints to make proper pictures now rather than just splodge paint. I'd like to do more work based around Arcimboldo, as I find his work amazingly modern for the 16th century, and it's such a fun, surrealist idea.
