What my kids think of the Mona Lisa – take 2

Five years ago I created a post called What my kids think of the Mona Lisa. At that time Cauner was 8, Jayson was 12, and Quisha was 13.  Their responses at the time cracked me up. (See the link posted for their original responses)

So today’s art lesson was the same one. I am using a curriculum that you repeat once your kids have gone through the process once, especially if they were really young the first time you went through it. So now, Cauner is 13 and Jorja is 9. They are the only ones doing this curriculum this time around. And again, I asked them their responses to the questions that are asked when they look at the picture of the Mona Lisa.

Here are the questions: Do you like it? What about the colors and the composition? Is there anything peculiar you notice about it? What do you think of the landscape behind “Mona Lisa”? Where do you think the location is? Can you guess why she is smiling?

And their responses are as follows:

Cauner: Yes, I like it. The colors are kind of bland. The clothes are very detailed. he even painted the wrinkles in her clothes. It’s very ‘mountainy’. I can see a path and a stream behind her. Italy. Because he asked her to smile.

Jorja: Yes, very much. The colors are pretty. I like her hair. I see a bridge and water behind her. France. She is happy because she gets to be painted.

I had Cauner respond to these before he knew I was going to read him his earlier responses. He thought it was pretty cool that I wrote it down the first time. So I decided to write it down again. If all goes well, in five years I will be doing this one last time with just Jorja.