Portraiture is a very old art form going back at least to Ancient Egypt. Before the invention of photography, a painted, sculpted, or drawn portrait was the only way to record the appearance of someone. Vincent Van Gogh is famous for his many self-portraits (as well as his Starry Night and Sunflowers). Like the famous Impressionist artist, the Year 4 children channelled their artistic skills by getting up close and personal with their own faces. They drew self-portraits and their fantastic masterpieces are gazing creatively from the gallery walls outside the Art Room.

Drawing portraits is challenging, so the children took inspiration from Van Gogh’s words, “As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward.” They started by drawing well-observed eyes, lips and noses, progressing to understanding and applying accurate facial feature proportions to create quick sketches of themselves.

Finally, they drew their self-portrait and used pencil crayons to add colour, texture and shading, thus enhancing three-dimensional form and ensuring that their unique version of their visage will be forever recorded in time (and hung on the walls of their home).