Hello Friends!

Picasso is one of the most famous artists of our time! Why do you think that is? He was innovative in the way he drew. Picasso made art like no one had ever seen. He loved to doodle. Do you ever find yourself drawing on a random piece of paper?
Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain in 1881. Even when he was a child, Picasso was better at drawing than most adults. He could draw and paint just about anything, and in any style. He liked to experiment and try out new ideas, which is important if you are an artist because the world is always changing. Picasso helped us see the world in new ways though his art!

Picasso would paint in different styles for blocks of his life. One of his most famous styles was called cubism. In cubism, paintings are done with geometric shapes, and are creative and exciting. With cubism, artists paint an object, such as a bottle or a person, from a lot of different angles all in the same picture. This painting is one of his cubist works.
At age 23, he moved to Paris. Paris was the center of a new art movement called the avant-garde, which means cutting-edge art that is new and different--art that really shocks people! Picasso became friends with lots of artists and writers who influenced him, including Georges Braque, who he invented cubism , and Gertrude Stein, who collected art and wrote a book on cubism.

Take notice of the geometric shapes he used. There are many hard angles and few curved or subtle lines.
What kind of colors do you see in this painting? do they look like natural colors you might find on a person? Picasso often used bright and expressive colors that wouldn't always make sense right away!
Time for an art break!

Now that you know all about Picasso and his style, we are going to try it out for ourselves!
Here's what you need:
- A large sheet of paper
- Thick black marker (I used a normal sharpie)
- 3 colors of paint (or 3 colors of marker/crayon)
STEP ONE: Using your marker, draw a head and neck on your paper (portrait style) STEP TWO Draw a nose in the middle of your face, add the mouth and chin (see photo 3) STEP THREE Draw the left profile face, with the eye looking off to the side Draw the right forward face with the eye looking right ahead. Don't forget the eyebrows! (see photo 4) STEP FOUR Add the right side forward facing lips. Draw one ear on each side, they do not need to match, and add the hair! STEP FIVE Fill your painting in with your three chosen colors! Make sure that you alternate the colors so that the same colors are never next to each other. |