Explore how artists express their ideas and feelings about the fascinating people in their lives who may be beautiful, interesting, powerful or unusual in Fascinating People. View this PowerPoint presentation first. There are portraits, self-portraits and narrative paintings from around the world so you will see a good overview of a great diversity of color and composition.

After your research, you will experiment with mixing tempera paints to create secondary colors, tints and shades. You will then create a painting expressing your ideas about a fascinating person (or people) in your life.

Here are links to web resource for more research and inspiration about portraits.

1. Eye Contact This is a beautiful and informative web exhibit sub-titled: Modern American Portrait Drawings presented by the The National Portrait Gallery. They have selected the best and most interesting drawings from the 1890-'s to the 1980's. Each shows a unique view of its subject.

2. Find Yourself Face To Face The Minneapolis Museum of Art has created a special web exhibit the explores portraits from all over the world. There are painting, sculpture and drawings from Western and Non-western cultures. Learn more about fascinating people from around the world.

3. Henri Matisse This web gallery from the National Gallery of Art helps us understand the bright, colorful works of this influencial French artist. It is packed with information and explanations of his paintings.