Matisse Artist Widget



Henri Matisse was a twentieth century French artist. His characteristic style included flat, brilliant colors and fluid lines. Later in his career, Matisse concentrated on a technique called papiers découpés (paper cutouts). Try making your own painting with Matisee-like paper cutouts:

  • Choose cutouts and drag to the canvas
  • See what changes you can make by clicking on the buttons below the canvas.
  • Print your design.
  • Have fun!

Try Action Painting Like Jackson Pollock



Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) developed a unique style of abstract expressionism. He would drip paint on his canvas in order to create his paintings. His paintings used a technique called "action painting." You can create an abstract painting by clicking on the canvas above. Move your mouse to create your own action painting. Click your mouse to change colors.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Artists for Kids

Art education not only improves children’s creativity, but it also educates them about other countries and cultures. Art for kids should engage children to think in new ways. Elisabeth Estivalet invites children to travel with their imagination. Her artwork depicts hills, villages and roads from her beloved adopted Provence region, in France. Estivalet is a famous Polish artist, but she is well known for her landscapes inspired by Provence where she moved in 1978.

Estivalet was trained in philosophy and economics, but she decided to follow a career in creativity, reflecting her longstanding passion for painting. A self-taught oil painting artist, her artworks can now be found in collections worldwide, including the U.S., Switzerland, France, Germany, South America, Japan and Australia.

What Kids Can Learn From Estivalet


(Art for Kids)

Elisabeth Estivalet’s style incorporates basic shapes and lots of color. This is helpful when you’re talking about art for kids, because children will feel capable of creating their own original works in her style. Estivalet creates landscapes inspired by the south of France. A landscape painting is artwork that shows an outside view. Estivalet’s artistic expression inspires creativity and imagination in children. She uses lots of simple shapes, lines, angles and curves. Children can close their eyes and imagine that they are traveling to Provence. They can visualize a landscape and create a collage of their vision with basic shapes. They can use semi-circles for the hills, squares for the houses and rectangles and circles for the trees. Her artwork is an invitation to travel..






Estivalet uses warm colors such as red, orange and yellow and cool colors like blue, violet and green in her art. Her art teaches children about colors. Children can draw hills, houses, bushes and trees with a pencil. Then, they can use tempera and choose warm colors or cool colors to paint the picture. Her style lends itself to art education at its best!

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