Van Gogh House London

When Vincent Van Gogh was alive, there were no cheap cameras or camera phones.  Instead, he drew sketches of the places of interest he saw on his travels.  Many of these, he drew in letters to his brother Theo using pen and ink.

You will need:

• Cartridge or thick paper

• A pot of writing or drawing ink

• An ink dip pen (a pen for calligraphy or cartoon drawing). These can be bought online or in an art shop.

• Kitchen roll or tissue

• Newspaper or sheet to cover the table.

Instructions:

• Writing and drawing with an ink dipping pen is great fun but takes practice to get right! Take a look at ‘Writing with an Ink Dipping Pen’ in our Poetry our Painting section to find out how.

• Once you feel ready to draw with your pen, start by looking at photos of your chosen local landmark. You could look online or better still, you could go and take your own photos or sketch what you see.

• What can you see when you look closely? Are there any interesting architectural features that you hadn’t noticed before?

• Now, have a go at drawing your landmark. You may wish to draw lightly with a pencil first and then go over it with your pen.

• The size that you choose will depend on the size of your map outline.

• Once you have drawn some landmarks and they are dry, cut them out and glue them onto your map. Can you find where they belong?

• What else does your map need? You could add other features such as trees, people, animals and transport.

Why not try creating some of your local landmarks using collage? Once you’ve had a good look at the  architectural features you wish to create, consider how you could use images from magazines, old greetings cards, scraps of fabric and other ‘junk’ to recreate your chosen landmark.

You will need:

• Thick brown packaging card

• Various collage materials e.g. scrap fabrics, old magazines and greetings cards.

• PVA glue and glue spreader

• Scissors

• Craft knife (please only use with adult supervision)

• Pencil

Instructions:

• Draw an outline of your building and cut it out with a craft knife.

• Now, have fun exploring the collage materials that you have gathered and using them to recreate your building’s features.

• Add little details for added interest such as fabric for curtains or cutting up pages from magazines to make roof tiles and bricks. Can you find a person or animal in a magazine to put in one of the windows?

• Once you have created some landmarks and they are dry, cut them out and glue them onto your map. Can you find where they belong?

• What else does your map need? You could add other features such as trees, people, animals and transport.

During Lockdown, we have had to miss out on visiting lots of places that we perhaps take for granted as many shops, restaurants, museums, cinemas, places of worship etc. remained closed.

Which places have you missed the most? Can you draw your dream high street full of all the places that you can’t wait to get back to?

Alternatively, you could draw a high street full of imaginary places that you wish existed. Perhaps you’d like to see a petting zoo full of unicorns next to a shop selling only sweets made by Willy Wonka.  The possibilities are endless!

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