Last year, we were a lot more organized about art. Now that I think of it, we were a lot more organized about a lot of things. This year, we've been going out more and it shows. Whenever we don't have a regular morning at-home schedule that we stick to, things don't get done. Even fun things like art, which the kids are very keen on doing, fall by the wayside.
So yesterday I pulled out the Artistic Pursuits. We're about 1/2 way through volume 2 of the K-3 book.
Each lesson focuses on a technique or aspect of visual art. There is an art print which demonstrates the lesson. When the book arrives, the art prints are loose and you need to paste them on to the right pages. You glue them in on only 1 side, so that you can lift the print to read underneath where there are art appreciation and discussion questions for each painting. There is a bit of a history lesson about the artist and then there is an activity which incorporates the lesson. The instructions are clear and the samples of children's art which are printed in the lessons are very non-threatening.
Our lesson was on the Mona Lisa. We read about Leonardo and then the kids did watercolor portraits of me. They used a watercolor wash on the background and applied salt to it to make a speckled textured effect. Both of them didn't like what I was wearing so we talked about artistic license and how they could change my clothes in their paintings. They didn't like my hair either. Still, even though the model was apparently not very satisfactory, the portraits turned out very well.
me - painted by H (aged almost 7)
me - painted by A (aged 10)
My only problem with Artistic Pursuits is that the art prints are so small. I think it's absolutely necessary to have on hand larger versions in an art book. We have one of Sister Wendy's books from the library right now and I think I'll end up buying it so we can refer to it all the time.
In the evening, we watched a DVD of Behind the Scenes. One of the great things about not watching tv, is that all these things are new to us. Behind the Scenes was a PBS show in 2002. It is hosted by Penn & Teller and is all about creativity. This episode was about painting and drawing and focuses on real artists and how they create the effects they do. It was a neat way for the kids to learn about line, perspective and color. And Penn & Teller were funny.
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"Busy children are happy children and happy children are rarely quarrelsome."
So says Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. The kids have been on a Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle audio book binge. That little bit of advice just seemed very apropos.
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