Art History Paper Starts out Corny

As much as my kids rib me for being so corny, it rubs off of them. I saw a classic example today in my son Stephen's essay on the Renaissance painter El Greco. He was having trouble coming up with a thesis statement. By way of reminder from last year (and the year before....we've homeschooled now for 13), I told him to pick three elements common to El Greco's paintings and discuss them in a two-to-three page paper.

He chose use of color (vibrant colors "pop" against a black background), elongation (the human and angelic figures are really long and leggy)), and
the use of space (which El Greco crammed with figures of people).

Stephen has a congenital sense of humor. He has also ingested a lot of corn, as confirmed in his writing. I think his case is incurable, and its only treatment is just to laugh and let it run its course. (He also knows he can get a rise out of me by putting an adjective in front of the word unique. My pet peeve.)

Here was his opening paragraph:


El Greco was one of the most unique painters of the Renaissance era. He used

color like no other, set elongation as a foundation, and filled empty spaces with some

faces.