SAILING THE CATBOAT
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Winslow Homer (WINZ lo HOME er) was born in Boston in 1836. His mother was an artist and encouraged young Winslow in learning to draw. At age 19. he was illustrating sheet music covers and then when he was 21, he started working as an illustrator for a new magazine, Harper's Weekly.
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Winslow Homer
When the Civil War began, he went to the war front and began to paint war scenes. Then he went to Paris and studied for a few months.
He spent some time on the coast of England and also in the state of Maine. Many of his paintings such as Sailing the Catboat reflect the knowledge he gained of the sea and life on the coast.
Homer would do studies in pencil before he painted a picture. Sometimes he worked with oil paints and sometimes with watercolor. His watercolor pictures provided a very good income for him.
He enjoyed painting pictures of children. In his painting Snap the Whip, he shows what life was like in 1872. In this painting, the children are taking a break from their classes in the "little red schoolhouse". The green of the hills and grass make up the largest portion of the painting. Notice how the red color of the schoolhouse stands out, and how your eye is drawn to the white shirts on three of the boys. None of the boys are wearing shoes.
Homer liked to be by himself and he never married. For the last 27 years of his life he lived in a remote part of Maine away from people.
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Civil War pictures
Winslow Homer
biography
Paintings by Winslow Homer
National Gallery of Art
look in all three rooms
Sailboats
art lesson - elementary
Watercolor Lesson
K-3
Art History
online interactive art lesson - elementary
Online book about Winslow Homer
Open Library.org
Winslow Homer art lesson based on one of Homer's paintings (PDF)
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/images/educators/lesson_plan/landscape_painting/landscape_painting_lesson2.pdf
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Masterworks of Art - Snap the Whip
Homer, Winslow
Buy this Poster at AllPosters.com
Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists: Winslow Homer
By Grolier Publishing Company
Introduce your young students to the fabulous and fun world of art with the World's Greatest Artists Series. Full-color reproductions and kid-friendly overviews of the artists' life are presented alongside cartoon-characters of the artist, bringing a clever dimension to the series. Fun and educational, these light yet realistic books make an easy and exciting transition into studying the fine arts. Learn about who liked Winslow Homer's paintings, and the styles that make his paintings unique! 32 pages, ages 4-8.
Come Look with Me: World of Play
By Gladys S. Blizzard / Lickle Publishing Inc
Come Look with Me: World of Play is no dry discourse on art history or painting technique. Instead, it pairs quality art reproductions with thought-provoking questions, encouraging the child to enter the painting or sculpture and explore it through the artist's eyes, through the eyes of the people depicted, and through the child's own imagination.Author, Gladys S. Blizzard has chosen twelve fascinating works of art which, although diverse, all fall into the most child-friendly of themes, people at play. Works range from an ancient Minano fresco and a classic Winslow Homer to a wacky modern basketball game sculpted by Red Grooms in painted wood.
Each work of art is paired with simple, open-ended questions and a brief background on the artist and his or her work. This provides adults with added understanding and a basis for further discussion.
This book can be shared by adults and students at home, in the classroom, in a library or museum. Wherever the setting, readers will enjoy this new way of looking at art. 32 pages, hardcover. Ages 6 and up.
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