North Hi Mount Elementary Fort Worth Independent School District NORTH HI MOUNT STUDENTS WRITE ABOUT ART Students from North Hi Mount in Fort Worth, Texas, visited the Amon Carter Museum to interact with real works of art in compare/contrast activities. Back in the classroom, students revised their written work. Below are some examples. Have you ever looked closely at paintings by the same artist? Well, I’m going to tell you about . . . "Shhh!" exclaimed the teacher as she took us through the museum. I don’t want to disturb the people in the museum. As I was saying, I’m going to tell you about two great paintings, Ease and Attention, Company! Both of these were painted by the same artist. There are also other similarities. The paintings show ways people relax or spend their free time. You could hear the violin going "twain" in Ease and the boy snapping to attention in Attention, Company! The paintings have newspapers. The boy uses the newspaper like a hat. The other newspaper was sitting on the table. The artist made his pictures realistic. He made them both portraits. He used dark backgrounds. The frames are beautiful and huge. The paint has a smooth texture. I also noticed differences between the two paintings. Ease shows a room inside with no people. It has a neat, clean background with books, flowers, and musical instrument which represents wealth and education. The main colors are black, blue, and dark brown. It has an adult setting. I could just imagine a man minutes before going "puff, puff" with the cigar. Attention, Company! is more childlike and simple. It has a boy standing outside like a soldier. The boy was wearing ragged clothes and the background had torn posters and letters carved on the wood with finger prints which could mean he lived in poverty. The main colors are dark green, gray, and brown. Whew!" I feel like an art teacher. I hope you will visit the art museum to look at the two paintings and others at the art museum. By Sarah G. "Different things: The little boy who’s a person, no people; inside, outside . . . " My friend has just read to me his long, boring list of differences and likenesses of things that are alike and different about the two paintings Ease and Attention, Company! It was so dull, I’ve decided to try and write a compare and contrast composition myself. First, I’ll tell you the things that are alike about Ease and Attention, Company! They are similar because they were done by the same artist. And they both have dark backgrounds that make them look sort of gloomy. One very minor likeness that I discovered is that both the paintings have newspapers in them. Also they are both portraits. Now, I’m going to tell you the different things. First of all, Ease has no people while Attention, Company! has a little boy in it. The backgrounds are very different because one is nice, clean and plain; the other has finger prints in the paint, torn posters, and words carved in the wall. Also, Ease is set inside. On the other hand, Attention, Company! is outside, possibly in an alley or beside an old building. The things in the picture are very different. One has thick, tattered books, musical instruments, and flowers; the other has none of those things. Also, Ease represents wealth and adults with music, newspapers, cigars and books and Attention, Company! shows children and poverty with ragged clothes, a paper hat and mismatching buttons. Also, they’re different because they have lots of different colors in them. The main colors in one are black, blue, and dark brown. But in the other, they are green and brown. I have just told you the likenesses and differences in the paintings Ease and Attention, Company! in, I hope, a more interesting way than my friend told me. By Hanna S. What are the differences and similarities of the two paintings? "Done!" My very artistic friend has just finished his two wonderful paintings. One of them is called Ease, and the other on is called Attention Company! I think they’re very different, but I will tell you the things that are awesomely different and the things that are amazingly alike about the two. It is just as easy as figuring out a two piece puzzle, that they are by the exact same artist. This is one thing that is the same. Here are some other interesting ones. If you happen to look around the paintings, and not just what they are, you’ll notice they both have fancy-looking frames, instead of just a couple of pieces of wood holding the portraits together. O yea! That’s another impressive thing, they are both awesome portraits. Also, if you look very closely, you may notice that both of the pieces of artwork have newspapers in them one way or another. One last really neat thing is dark colored backgrounds. That is something that gives the painting a catchy look. I think so because the background isn’t as important as the rest of the picture. Ugh! One of the different things is Ease looks as elegant as a tea party in 1905, and Attention Company! looks as trashy as inside a dumpster in New York City because the boy’s jacket is slightly ripped and his clothes are torn. Ease, as you can tell, is an inside picture, and Attention, Company! is an outside portrait. Also, Ease has absolutely no people, just objects, and the other painting obviously has a person. In the wonderful piece of artwork, Attention Company!, the setting looks like young people live around him, but the other portrait looks very calm, like an older person lives there, but it also looks gloomy, like that place has been left alone for a very long period of time, and Attention, Company! is always used. Ease, as you can tell, has a nice, clean background, while the other painting, Attention Company! has a trashy background with signs that are messily torn up and unused. Also, in Ease, there are dark colors like green, black, dark maroon and blue, but the other piece of artwork has different, plain colors, like brown and a beautiful olive green. Finally, there is a table, old books, pretty flowers and musical instruments that you can almost hear when you see them in the corner of your eye in Ease, and no main objects except for a dirty, ragged mop in Attention, Company! Whew! Now that I have told you the differences and similarities about these two wonderful paintings, I think I am going to take a rest, and maybe the next time my friend paints, I will tell you another compare and contrast just as fun and exciting as this one! By Kelsey L. I saw some paintings at the museum last week. I will tell you about the similarities and differences between them. The titles are Buffalo Hunt and Ballplay of the Sioux. The subject of both paintings is the American Indian. There are trees in both paintings. Both show action outdoors. In both paintings, the Indians are using sticks. There are trees in them both. And they both show definite shadows. There are many differences between the paintings. For one thing, in one painting the trees are bare, but in the other, they have many leaves. In Buffalo Hunt, the Indians are hunting with sticks that are spears, while in the other, they are using their sticks for play. One is at sunrise and the other, sunset. One includes animals while the other has none. In one it is winter while the other takes place during summer. One painting shows the Indians on horseback and the other on foot. Now I have told you about the similarities and differences between the two paintings. I hope I have helped you learn something about them. By Timothy R. Have you ever looked at two paintings and compared and contrasted them? Well, I’m going to tell you the likes and differences of two paintings. The paintings are called Ease and Attention, Company! So, I’m going to tell you how the paintings are alike first. The first thing that is alike about the paintings are that they are painted by the same artist. It that cool or what? A second way that they are alike which is interesting is that they both have dark backgrounds. A third way they are alike that is funny, is they both have newspapers in both of the two paintings. A fourth way they are alike is they both have some sort of portrait. Oh! And don’t forget the fancy frames he uses. Now, I’m going to tell you the differences in the two paintings. Ease and Attention, Company! In Ease, there are no people at all in the painting, but in Attention, Company! there is a little boy. A second way they are different is Ease is a painting showing the inside of a house. It has a nice clean background but in Attention, Company! there is a painting of the outside. It has a messy background. A third way they are different are the colors in the painting of the backgrounds. In Ease, there are older people who live there because of the dark colors in the background like black and blue, but in Attention, Company! there is a young kid and the background is painted green. It’s interesting to see how two paintings from the same artist can be so much alike, yet, also so different. So, next time you see two painting by the same artist, see how they are alike and the ways they are different. By Kristen H.