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Michelangelo - Lie Down Painting
from Discovering Great Artists

discovering great artists

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Michelangelo - Lie Down Painting from Discovering Great Artists

One of Michelangelo's (MY-KUL-AN-JEH-LO) most famous and best loved works is his painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel which he painted entirely while lying on his back.

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Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564) - Italian painter and sculptor, Michelangelo, was the greatest Renaissance artist of all time. His greatest love was the study of the human body, both in painting and in sculpture. He concentrated on observing the human body and was often allowed into hospitals to study bodies of those who had died. Some say that had Michelangelo been left to himself to sculpt instead of paint, he would have become a sculptor because no other form of art so beautifully expressed the richness of the human body.

One of Michelangelo's best known and loved works is his painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo painted the ceiling entirely while lying on his back. To do this, he had to build a tall, strong scaffold with wooden planks (like a big ladder with a floor to stand on) so that he could climb the scaffold and be close enough to the ceiling to paint it. He assembled his paints and brushes, and lay down on his back to paint, which took four years to complete the entire ceiling!

Young artists experience the challenge of painting like Michelangelo by taping a large sheet of paper to the underside of a table and lying down to paint a scene.

Materials:

  • large sheet of butcher or poster paper
  • masking tape
  • large school table (at child height) or coffee table
  • tempera paints and brushes in sturdy cans or jars
  • floor under table covered with newspaper
  • artist in old clothes, bandana over hair optional
  • rags, paper towels, or sponges for clean up

Process:

1. Tape a large sheet of butcher paper or poster paper to the underside of a table, such as a child's school table or a household coffee table. The artist should be able to lie on his or her back under the table and comfortably reach the paper taped to the table with a paintbrush.
2. Cover the work area under the table with newspaper.
3. Assemble paints in jars or cans. Have brushes ready, one in each color of paint.
4. Lie down under the table. Relax and be comfortable. Paints should be within easy reach.
5. Begin painting on the "ceiling" of the table. Paint any subject or design desired. NOTE: Don't be surprised about drips and drops of paint falling from the "ceiling".
6. Leave the painting on the underside of the table to dry for several hours.
7. Remove the dry painting and display the "ceiling painting" on the ceiling of any room with additional tape.


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