oh hi there my name is Ellie Panzer Oni and today I’m going to be sharing with you for a magazine tips specifically for creativeminds to get an A+ when you’re writing about art for me whenever I’ve been writing about art I never just sit down and it just magically comes out perfect introduction content and conclusion for me writing about any subject matter is more like putting together a puzzle and so that’s kind of the mindset I want you to have whenever you’re approaching a writing project the painting we’ll be using today for this exercise is Vermeer’s a lady writing from circa 1665 courtesy of the National Gallery of Art in Washington step 1 make a mini mind map now this is kind of like making a little chart you’re going to make a little drawing a little copy of the painting this is going to make you see the shapes more clearly and then around the drawing I want you to make little offshoots where you’re considering the description the general observations when you’re looking at this piece so not what you think but what you see okay so not she’s ugly looking or she’s beautiful I want you to just describe girl sitting 3/4 of you where’s the light source what’s the contrast like where’s the setting so things to keep in mind are the elements of art which if you don’t know our line color light shape figures space surface plane and texture so consider all that okay so interior domestic space right realistic attention to details look at the textures in her the ribbons on her hair and the pearls in her earrings and the feather on her quill and her fur rose the luminosity of the skin none of this has to be in complete sentences just little thoughts there’s warm yellows deep turquoises high contrast of light dark the background is very neutral we’ve got a slight smile from the sitter she’s looking directly at us so just keep brainstorming all around there until you run out of things to think about step two is the nutshell a based on your observations if you had to describe it in a nutshell what is being represented another problem might be what does it remind you of well to me when I look at this immediately I think of royalty that row there’s something about that that black and white I don’t know what kind of animal it is but that robe reminds me of royalty also reminds me of youthfulness she also looks angelic so those are some thoughts that come to mind um but in a nutshell I would say it’s a 3/4 view of a woman in a domestic space that is writing a letter step three is to evaluate is the work effective now whatever you say here should be based on what you see visually so what has the artist done well what really stands out to you what do you think really the artist has achieved in this painting now if I was going to say what I think that the artist achieved I would say for mayor’s painting effectively pulls the viewer into the center of a private moment with extraordinarily realistic details we pause at the work center and we engage directly with this lady who possesses the kind of ethereal luminosity your fourth step is simply just to organize all of this brainstorming in two paragraph format so make sure your first sentence is a great introduction and kind of a pow and that your conclusion is another POW and those are my guidelines so go out there and get an a-plus on your next art paper woo hoo thanks for joining me bye bye you