Valley Ridge Academy PTO

Rockwell carefully studied the works of great artists like those pictured in the upper right corner of the easel in. He also spent weeks, even months creating his paintings. Rockwell didn’t just sit down and begin to paint. Each painting was Rockwell carefully studied the works of great artists like those pictured in the upper right corner of the easel in .He also spent weeks, even months creating his paintings. Rockwell didn’t just sit down and begin to paint. Each painting was carefully planned, and many took several months to complete. When he had an idea for a painting, Rockwell often took photographs of models (sometimes his friends and neighbors) in various poses. He then mixed and matched details from these photos and made numerous pencil sketches, rearranging the composition and adding new details. Rockwell sometimes coated the back of his final sketch with charcoal dust and laid it on top of a canvas. By tracing the top image, he left a dust outline on the canvas. He then painted on top of this sketchy image with oil paints, which covered up the charcoal lines. Even while he was painting the picture, Rockwell often made changes in the poses, the backgrounds, and facial expressions.

To the left is an early sketch. How many differences can you find between the two versions? Can you think of any reasons why Rockwell changed what he did?