Art and projects

Jonathan has the day off school, so we have spent the morning enjoying art and projects and photography.

Josiah's passion is painting, of course, so those came out first thing after breakfast!




Jonathan received a model airplane for a birthday present, so we started working on that. That is definitely NOT SIMPLE. Trying to read the diagram makes my head spin. But we're making progress! :)

Jonathan took this picture:



And then since the camera was out and Jonathan enjoys taking photos, here are few portraits of the cat:



Jonathan says that this one makes him look like a lion:



It's been a nice start to the day. Who needs chores? ;)

Art study: Claude Monet

A couple of weeks ago Jonathan asked me to spend part of a Saturday morning studying (and copying) one of our "art study" paintings. We chose Claude Monet's depiction of Jerusalem Artichoke Flowers. Here's the picture hanging on our wall, ready to be copied.



Jonathan was a lot more willing to dive in with the paints this time (previously he's been more hesitant, worried that he won't be able to do it "right"). He started with the vase on a red table, added green leaves, and then painted his flowers on top. Orange and blue background strokes finished his work. He was quite pleased with the result:



Of course, he wanted me to paint alongside him. Here is my result:



I actually liked mine better before adding the background! Oh well. I like the vase best. I'm glad that homeschooling last year made me jump in and try painting. It really is a lot of fun!

Josiah counting

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seventy, eighteen, nineteen, one hundred! Yippee!"

On a completely unrelated note, here is the budding artist:



Love the tongue. And all the colors! His painting is getting a lot more complex and purposeful.

Art, and the art of letter writing

Letter writing: the one positive aspect of family living far away. Jonathan enjoys sending some of his artwork away to his aunts and uncles, and sometimes they write back! Which of course means that he needs to write back. I love that he's learning this, even in our email (and blog!) saturated culture.

In the latest note from Aunt Jenny, she included step by step instructions for drawing a cat in a window. Jonathan drew his cat according to her directions, and then decided to turn the paper over and draw the same cat, from the other side of the window. It was fun to see his thought process as he decided how best to do that. There are whiskers and a nose on the other side of the picture!

When we first started writing letters, it took a lot of prompting and suggestions to help Jonathan craft what he wanted to say. This time he dictated the entire letter without assistance. I was very proud! Here's the text, because it is hard to read in the letter and because I want it for posterity (because, of course, the letter has been sent away!)

Dear Aunt Jenny,
You're welcome for the fun bird's nest picture. I hope you enjoy it.
Thank you for teaching me how to draw the kitty cat.
We love you, dear Aunt Jenny.
Love, Jonathan

Art study: Vincent van Gogh (take two)

We're slowly (veeeerrrrry slowly) working our way forward in our artist study. I have a difficult time clearing space in a morning for time intensive painting. Working on that. :) This morning we managed it, and we had a great time. We were copying Van Gogh's Roses.



Here is Jonathan's reproduction:



He started with the vase - note the blue and yellow coloring, and the handle. Then he decided that the rest of the picture was boring and needed extra color, so he added red and black roses. :)

Jonathan feels pretty intimidated before he actually starts. If I start painting too, it seems to help him settle in and enjoy it. I understand the intimidation, because I rarely want to start painting either! But once I get going, it is usually quite fun. Here's my copy:



Do you do art with your kids? How do you choose to do it?

Art study: Vincent van Gogh

Part of our schooling this fall includes a Charlotte Mason style approach to art. We pick an artist, and then study one of his paintings every week or two. Art study day is really exciting - we make a big deal out of it! First we sit on the couch and look at our picture (no one gets to look at it until then - it is a big secret). I encourage the boys to tell me what they see, asking questions to prompt them if they run out of ideas. After awhile, we turn the picture over and I ask them to describe it in as much detail as they can, from memory. I find it very interesting to see what sticks in their memory, as it is usually different from what sticks in mine!

And after all that, we get out our paints and copy it!

Here is what resulted today:



I found it fascinating that Jonathan was so deliberate about the night sky with stars (you can't see the details well in the picture, but there are stars in those upper middle splashes of blue) and the green tree, and the orangey-brown terrace, and the blue post on the left and the chairs and table in the bottom middle, but used very little yellow/orange. I asked him about it and he said "well, that's enough." Whereas when I look at the picture, my eye sees nothing but yellow/orange until I really pay attention.