Van Gogh in Clay

I got this idea from an issue of Family Fun Magazine, in which an art teacher was asked to share her favorite lessons. We used 6x9 art boards, and non-drying modeling clay in primaries, green and white. I thought this idea was brilliant alternative to an actual oil painting. The children get a real tactile sense of it by applying clay to the surface of the board and mixing their own colors by blending the clays together— this also helped it to warm up and become more pliable. My whole family helped to practice this lesson. My husband who is an art director and has a degree in illustration couldn't wait to try it! I always need to try out lessons before I teach them and in doing so have been having so much fun getting messy, and producing art without worrying too much about the final product. I guess the rule about the process being more important than the product can apply to adults as well!