Tuesday Art Time...

Last Tuesday we took a few minutes to complete a still life painting.

The little ones wanted what they were drawing to be a surprise so they stayed in the bedroom while I set up an antique blue jar with an artificial sunflower inside.

We used our new water color paints and new paintbrushes.

I was very proud of the results...

Boo

6 year old

Bo

7 years old

Miss LouLou

4 years old

Little Bitty

2 years old

Studying Art On A Cold Day...

Yes, it does get cold here in January.

In fact the Monday before the 68 degree swimsuit day...

It was a 30 degree stay in the house day!

So we used our 1968 childcraft annual and a toilet paper roll to have an art lesson.

We talked about the way an artist looks at a large scene and may choose to focus on a small part of it to paint or draw.

So with our toilet paper roll telescope we looked out the back window and focused on one small part of the beautiful big picture...

The kiddos each focused on something different and drew it in their sketch books.

Boo chose a plow, barn and cow..

Bo chose the old truck in the pasture...

Miss LouLou chose the chicken coop in the backyard...

Mommy helped draw the coop...she put the chicken wire and grass on all by herself.

Fun Friday

Lately circle time has not worked out for us.  I have decided to start a Fun Friday to focus  more on art, artist study, music and nature study.  The littles look forward to a day of art and nature.  So, Friday I let the littles fingerpaint.

We examined this painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

 By The Water

Then I pulled out the fingerpaint.  I told them they could paint their very own version of the painting, but the paint on the fingers was much to exciting.  They quickly got distracted with paint all over their fingers. Mixing the paint to see what colors they could make was great fun.

Her first time to fingerpaint.

Boo painting a teepee and a canoe

Note to Self:  Next time we fingerpaint and the phone rings, let the machine get it.

I was gone for five minutes and when I came back, a little three year old with long hair, had started painting it green.

Learning to Draw...Bo's Reward

Last year when we began Drawing with Children as part of Bo's Year 0.5, I promised him if he would work hard, then he could enter some artwork in the fair this year.  So for the past year we have been doing some drawing instruction, experimenting with different mediums and participating in Sketch Tuesday.

He has always enjoyed art instruction and only became frustrated a hand full of times.  I really noticed a big jump in his ability when I placed a real object in front of him to sketch.

So after a year of hard work he entered four pictures in the fair...
a watercolor picture of apples
an oil pastel of a seashell
a shiitake mushroom log pencil drawing
and a drawing of a fisherman

The drama around entering these in the fair was almost more than I could handle.  But since it was my own fault I kept on until they were safely entered.  The time to turn these in occurred the during the days surrounding the death of my grandfather.  I had looked on the fair website at this time to find out a date to be there.  Well, I looked at the wrong exhibitor information and realized that we had missed the drop off  by a day.  I told Bo mommy had made a mistake and explained what had happened.  I told him he would just have to wait until next year.  I asked for his forgiveness.  He forgave me as he was running away to his bed to hide under the covers and cry.  Needless to say, I felt A-W-F-U-L.  I immediately called the fair office and explained what had happened and asked if there was any way I could still bring the pictures in.  After playing phone tag, I was told that if I had them there that afternoon I could still bring them.  Luckily art was the only category that had not been judged.

So, we raced away at naptime ( I never miss naptime) to Hobby Lobby to get the picture mounted.  Mounting was going to cost thirty dollars, so I opted for foam boards and spray on adhesive.  We arrive at the park to let the kids play while I attempt to mount the pictures.  The spray adhesive ended up being broken and would not spray.  After loading the kids back into the van, and a bathroom break at the park restrooms, I stop by the fair and explain the spray adhesive problem.  The very eagerly help me mount the pictures with double sided tape.  I felt such a relief handing over those pictures.  "I hope he wins," she says as I was leaving.  "At this point I'm just thankful they will be hanging on that wall," I reply.  And I was thankful...

And when we arrived at the fair and he saw his first blue ribbon, all the trouble was worth it...

 He won a blue ribbon with his oil pastel drawing of a seashell(on bottom of picture)...

The mushroom log picture on bottom won a red ribbon.

He won third place with his watercolor green apples.

He's already talking about what he can draw for next year;-)

His Version of a Monet...

Today during circle time, we drew the card that says re-create artwork.  We are on the last Monet painting.  We have been enjoying his work The Women in the Garden.  I was so pleased at Bo's efforts to re-create this masterpiece.  I just love his lady holding the umbrella...too cute...I smile every time I look at it.

Starting with Sketch Tuesday

I am very slowly making plans for a little more school in our schedule since the garden is about gone.  So yesterday, I headed over to Harmony Art Mom to read all about Sketch Tuesday.  Her challenge was sketching something that you would see in a restaurant.  I didn't exactly follow that idea because I had some perfect fruit in the kitchen that needed to be sketched before we devoured it.  I had purchased some water color pencils at Hobby Lobby and the kiddos were ready to put them to use.  I really loved how easy they were to use.  I thought the boys did a wonderful job sketching.  It had been awhile since we had practiced sketching and I thought Bo did exceptionally well.  Boo sketched the pear and tiger melon all by himself and mommy helped him sketch the pineapple.

Here is Bo's sketching.

 

 Here is Boo's sketching

Drawing With Bo

In the fall, when we began our unoffical year 0.5 with Bo I started teaching him to draw with Drawing with Children.

I read the first part of the book and tried to brush up on my drawing skills before trying to teach him.  Maybe I should say I tried to develop some drawing skills before we began.  When we started learning the elements of shape, Bo picked up on them very quickly.  He is doing great with his drawing and he is very proud of his accomplishments.   I told him that we will practice drawing and in the fall he can enter a picture in the local fair.  I usually enter some photographs in the fair and he is looking forward to entering some of his drawings.

Bo doesn't look happy becasue his Lego tower kept falling and I asked him to take a break so I could make his picture.

I have been using the lesson plans for Drawing with Children located on this site.  This site breaks down the lessons and warm-up activities into an easy to follow plan.  I highly recommend this book.  Bo really looks forward to our drawing time and so do I!