Junior Readers Learn About Starry Nights and Sunflowers

Our Junior Readers listened to a reading about the famous artist: "Vincent van Gogh, Sunflowers and Swirly Stars," by Brad Bucks and Joan Holub.

The author began the book by selecting van Gogh as his subject because he thought he was a wealthy man. But soon he learned that van Gogh only sold one painting while he was living. Although he would become one of the world's most famous artists, his vision was not what the people of his time wanted to buy.

When he was young, van Gogh preferred dark colors and sad scenes because he liked to paint what he actually observed. Later, he learned to use brighter colors and favored yellows.

Looking at his famous Starry Night painting, we saw that he later used a misture of bright and dark colors. He also used dots, dashes, and swirls to paint, in a style called Impressionism.

After hearing the story and exploring his work, we set up shop and painted our own ideas of Starry Nights on lightswitch plates -- complete with glow in the dark stars! We did not get photos because we were handling wet paint...but every light switch was beautiful and unique!