Painting Like Michaelangelo!

Over the past week during our Passport to the World time, the kids and I have been having a lot of fun learning about the country of Italy, its history and its landmarks.  In exploring some of Italy's history, I wanted to introduce them to a time period I really enjoyed learning about in school:  the Renaissance.  There was just so much being achieved in the fields of art, invention, and understanding; so many names that are still seen as influential in our world today.

So I thought over some of the awe-inspiring accomplishments of the Renaissance; the paintings, sculptures, and scientific breakthroughs.  When I think of the era, I think of da Vinci's notebooks with the writing that needs to be read through a mirror (which we totally tried, and had a lot of fun) and all those paintings that tourists travel from all over the world to see, the paintings which are still seen as amazing feats of art and patience, such as Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

It's hard for anyone to really grasp what Michelangelo went through while painting the ceiling paintings:  almost 5000 square feet of frescoes over a period of a little more than four years, all while laying down on uncomfortable scaffolding, with the paint dripping down on him the whole time! Yikes! 

After reading a little about the whole feat and the artist himself, I told Princess and Dirty D that they would get to try to paint like Michelangelo did the Sistine Chapel by painting while laying down.  They were actually excited to try this out, although neither of them could think of anything they'd want to work on for four years.

First I taped some paper to the underside of our lawn chairs and got the kids some face paint, brushes, and water.

All set up to paint like a Renaissance artist.

I had the kids use face paint for this activity because of its thicker consistency and because it's safe to have on their face (in case there were any drops). 

Then I let the kids create their own Michelangelo inspired masterpiece!

Dirty D chose to use a pillow,

While Princess gave Michelangelo's uncomfortable experience a shot.

Here our dog was coming to see what we were doing

Princess was uncomfortable, and couldn't come up with anything she wanted to paint, while Dirty D enjoyed the project and worked on his painting for quite a while.  These were their results:

I got a kick out of Princess' "hi".

In the end though, the kids both said they had fun.  They also started to see the Sistine Chapel's frescoes and what Michelangelo went thru to create them in a whole new light!