Create Daily

 I am way beyond excited, here, people! I entered a giveaway for an Alisa Burke class...and I won!!! (Doing the happy dance of joy.) I took her Sketchbook Delight class last winter and loved it. And the best part is, I can do that class again any time I want to since she gives permanent access to all her classes.

Yippy, Skippy!

I am too, too happy. Can you tell?

The Silk Road

We're studying Marco Polo this week, and in the process we are learning about the Silk Road. The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology has an excellent website with all kinds of images (some of mummies, fyi) for kids to see. Quite interesting!

Michael Burgan's Marco Polo is a great read for grammar level students, and an 1845 copy of The Travels of Marco Polo is free on Google books for upper level readers who want to explore more of his travels.

These Shishi lions have traditionally stood in front of Chinese imperial palaces from the time of the Han Dynasty, and they would have been a familiar sight for Marco Polo in his travels. They always come in pairs, male and female, and are carved from stone or molded from bronze. The male has his paw on the world, and the female has a cub on her back. We are going to carve simplified versions from soap this week.

We will also be making their fried dough twists and some "silk" flags with block printing for an art project.

Gargoyles

Wasserspier is the German word for gargoyle, and it is so much fun to say! (Almost as fun as the German word for ambulance.) At any rate, those little uglies served a dual purpose in medieval architecture. The gargoyles we are studying were part of a system of guttering that removed water from the rooftops of the cathedrals constructed in the Middle Ages. Many had channels cut into their backs that extended the guttering. (And, since they were typically located far above the tree tops, one assumes that leaves collecting in the gutters were not a problem. Although I can guess that the occasional bird would build a nest in an inconvenient place and clog up the works.)

The legend of the gargoyle is this:

"A French legend that sprang up around the name of St. Romanus ("Romain") (AD 631–641), the former chancellor of the Merovingian king Clotaire II who was made bishop of Rouen, relates how he delivered the country around Rouen from a monster called Gargouille or Goji. La Gargouille is said to have been the typical dragon with batlike wings, a long neck, and the ability to breathe fire from its mouth. There are multiple versions of the story, either that St. Romanus subdued the creature with a crucifix, or he captured the creature with the help of the only volunteer, a condemned man. In each, the monster is lead back to Rouen and burned, but its head and neck would not, due to being tempered by its own fire breath. The head was then mounted on the walls of the newly built church to scare off evil spirits, and used for protection.^[4] In commemoration of St. Romain the Archbishops of Rouen were granted the right to set a prisoner free on the day that the reliquary of the saint was carried in procession (see details at Rouen)." ~Wikipedia.

Gargoyles were also a visual reminder of evil and the need for Christ when most could not read, and indeed had no access to books in the first place.  At any rate, they were ugly enough to scare people into behaving themselves.

Art Smart has another great project, so we are making clay gargoyles this week. Hopefully they will be full of interesting textures and details. Garlic presses are useful for hair; toothpicks make great carving tools, as do forks; and pressing bubble wrap into the clay should make for interesting skin.

Updated 10/7/11 to include photos of the girls' projects.

Silk

For my inner computer geek, I want to explore how this is possible. For my inner artist? I just like the pretty colors.

weavesilk.com

If you want to make your own, click this link. Warning: it's going to be slightly addictive.

Sketch Tuesday: Something That Glows

Here's the masterpiece! If  you're interested in joining the fun, here's the site. And here's this week's slideshow.

Stained Glass Windows

Stained glass has been adding splendor to the great cathedrals of Europe for a thousand years. The first one that came to my mind was Chartres Cathedral in France. Monet painted a series of paintings of Rouen Cathedral, but he did paint Chartres in 1830.

The windows at Chartres are typical of the cathedrals constructed during that time period. Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, as it is known in French was built mostly between 1193 and 1250. Today, most of the stained glass is original, and few changes have been made since the 13th century. Below are the modern view of Chartres from the southeast, and the rose window on the north facade.

Fascinating post on Chartres Cathedral here.

Click here for a detailed identification of the figures in the window.

"As a material stained glass is glass that has been coloured by adding metallic salts during its manufacture. The coloured glass is crafted into stained glass windows in which small pieces of glass are arranged to form patterns or pictures, held together (traditionally) by strips of lead and supported by a rigid frame. Painted details and yellow stain are often used to enhance the design. The term stained glass is also applied to windows in which the colours have been painted onto the glass and then fused to the glass in a kiln." ~from Wikipedia.

For this project, we will be using Art Smart, by Susan Rodriguez. She suggests using squared black paper, folded in quarters to form the armature. Folding it like a snowflake would also work. After the shapes are cut from the paper, colored tissue paper or cellophane is glued to the back to color the work. It would be more visually appealing to cut two pieces of paper simultaneously and glue one to the back if the work is to be displayed in a window.

We have also made "glass" in colors that coordinated with our home and used them to stain the windows in the front door. We left them up for months and they provided privacy and a little bit of color. I took them down when I painted the outside of the front door red. Note to self: do that project again sometime. It was fun.

 
Updated 10/7/11 to include photos of finished projects.

PicassoZ

I love these faces! I also really. like. this. store. Sigh. Sadly, it's too far away for a commute. But they have this new fun online toy! Lucky us.

Voyageur's National Park Art Contest

Every year, the park holds a contest for students from Kindergarten to Sixth Grade. Every year we say, "Wouldn't that be fun?" This year, we finally did it! The Curly-headed girl drew a picture and entered it in the 3-4 grade category. The theme for the year was "The Park After Dark."

 

She won! It was very exciting. Almost as exciting as the cookies and hot chocolate. And the art projects.

 And the night hike. The Rainy Lake Visitor's Center staff hosted an open house with all kinds of activities for the kids and their parents. It was a wonderful night out. We will participate next year, for sure!

Guess who saw a beaver, three loons, a bufflehead and assorted other wild animals?

A Slower Pace

The Curly-headed girl and I decided to take a stroll around the neighborhood in search of interesting photo opportunities. We wanted to enter the library's photo contest and needed some inspiration. These are the new things we found on our usual route to elsewhere.

Sadly enough, the usual route to elsewhere involves a certain amount of hurry; some days more than others. Last year we were studying Lewis and Clark. We wanted to understand their journey a bit better, so we decided to take a new route to McDonald's...on foot. As we walked we were amazed at the number of items we discovered on a part of the route we drove daily. A slower pace lets us see more, and take the time to soak it all in. The trip to McDonald's with full backpacks was enlightening, by the way. They decided to cross 19th Century Exploration off of the "Possible Career Choice" list.

Since that day, we have attempted to get out and walk around more often. It's fun to do it with a camera in tow. Once we did an ABC walk, looking for letters of the alphabet. I would like to do color walks as well. Today spring was the theme (and yes, I know summer is merely days away). It still amazes me that we have lilacs blooming in June. It seems that all of our flowers bloom at once up here. Winter is long and spring is sometimes late in arriving, but when it does arrive it's glorious! Our yard is awash in color. 

The best way to end our journey: home sweet home.

Book of Kells

Since high school, I have been fascinated with Celtic Art. The Book of Kells is an especially fine example. It is kept in air conditioned lock and key at the Old Library on the campus of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.

The monks at Iona created the illuminations in the Book of Kells with a fairly simple grid system, but to master the technique takes hours of practice. Here are some videos that teach the simplest Celtic Knots. A fast celtic knot., and Celtic Knot 2. Compare these to the pictures below to see the difference.

Details from a page in the Book of Kells

One of the most famous illuminations: the gospels

A page from the gospel of Luke

Mary and Jesus

Picture Study - Lamentation of Christ

Here's Giotto di Bendone. He looks a little sour.

Coffee had not been introduced to Italy when he was working. Perhaps we should not judge him. The statue was carved in 1845, while Giotto died in 1337. This article is quite informative.

 At any rate, he was purportedly quite mischievous. According to one story, he painted a fly on one of his mentor's works of art. This caused poor Cimabue no end of grief as he tried to shoo the fly away several times before he realized it was painted and not real. Giotto is credited with being a major transitional artist from Byzantine style art to the more realistic styles of the Renaissance.

This book is by one of my favorite authors, Madeleine L'Engle. She took Giotto's artwork in the Scrovegni Chapel and put text to it. Wonderful! We will be making art on dark blue paper with gold foil and gold paint to imitate the style of these paintings.

Many Hands Make Light Work

I was reading a blog post wherein the author asked her readers to answer the following question: What do you like and dislike about creating art with your children? The answer to the second half of the question was invariably, "the mess."

Am I the only one who doesn't worry about the messes?

Making a mess is part of the creative process. As we grow, we learn to make the mess for art's sake, as opposed to making art because it gives us an excuse to make a really good mess.  If it's a mess you're after, playing in the mud yields better results!

I taught first grade for seven years. Every year would begin much in the same way. We would cut and snip and paper would inevitably end up on the floor, paint would spatter the tables, and glue... Well, let's just say glue can be used for a host of things other than adhering pieces of paper to other pieces of paper. (Fake fingerprints come to mind.) Every year I would begin the process of teaching the children to clean up after themselves until it became a habit.

When I became a mom, we did the same thing. After we walked through paint to make footprints on butcher paper, we walked through warm soapy water and cleaned our toes. We learned that markers write on paper - not walls. We learned that although playdough is edible, it doesn't really taste that great. We learned to clean up after ourselves. Now that they are older and have shown me they're responsible enough, we even store all kinds of art supplies in their rooms. I want them to be able to create at will.

I figure if they helped make the mess, they can help clean it up. It is a process similar to learning to read or ride a bike. A three-year-old can't wipe down the kitchen table or sweep and mop the floor. But my eight-year-old can be trusted in a room by herself with paint and I don't have to worry about the inappropriate use of art materials because as she learned to paint, she learned to clean it up.

Picture Study - Lavender Mist: Number 1, 1950

Lavender Mist: Number 1, 1950
by Jackson Pollock

When I am discouraged about the state of the Curly-headed girl's room, I remind myself to be thankful. She's not in there making a mess like this. (Thankfully, when she does art, she cleans up after herself.) Like the Curly-headed girl, Jackson was very liberal in his use of paint. We read this book to understand more about his work.

For fun, put paint in mustard and ketchup containers. Use sticks, flyswatters, and whatever else you have lying around to apply the paint. (Wear old clothes, this will get messy!) Apply your paint with abandon and don't forget to have fun!

And if you don't have the time/space for all that creativity, this is just too good to pass up. It's almost as much fun as the real thing (move your mouse around and click to change color).

Picture Study - Enthroned Madonna, four angels and St. Francis, detail

Enthroned Madonna, four angels and St. Francis, detail

We will be studying Cimabue next year and I am looking for pictures that show his highly stylized and relatively flat figures (compared to the Renaissance artists at least). Another good picture to study by Cimabue is Madonna Enthroned with Saints and Angels. Cimabue is considered to be primarily a Byzantine artist. (Edited 5/21 because I keep mixing him up with Giotto). His supposed pupil, Giotto, was highly innovative and broke from Byzantine tradition drastically. If you compare their Madonnas, it will be quite evident.

For some reason, this photo fascinates me. It is in much higher resolution at Wikimedia Commons - a good place to look for public domain pictures of art. I even found an engraving of the artist.

Art, Both Ways

"Composition with Yellow, Blue and Red" Piet Mondrian

When you don't have time for a mess:
National Gallery of Art - Kids' Zone
Odosketch
Dale Chihuly - glass blowing demonstration
Carl Larsson website - fascinating!
Jan Vermeer website - ditto!
Monet's Gardens at Giverny

"Lavender Mist: Number 1" Jackson Pollock

When you do:
Daisy Yellow
Being Cr8iv
Sketchbook Challenge
Mini Matisse
APFK - If you like to sew, she has great patterns for stuffies, too!
Art Lessons for Kids

When the Snow Finally Melts

We don't waste time! It doesn't even have to be completely melted. It doesn't have to be particularly warm, either. On this "spring" day, I think the temperature topped out at fifty...

 

They have been waiting half the winter to go outside and play ball with Mr. Dad. The yard was barely dry enough to call it anything but a swamp, but they talked their father into going to the dollar store for a bat and a good supply of balls. The Curly-headed girl promptly whacked two of them so hard they split in half. So much for the good supply...

For the record, this would be a great time to have the kids make cave art. They are already equipped with an ample supply of mud, sticks and a sidewalk. It'll rain sooner or later and wash it right off. Let them create away. The girls love this activity, and when it is warmer with plenty of sunshine mud can be hard to find. Sometimes you just have to make hay art while the sun shines is no where to be found.

2D Tissue Paper Flowers

 

Tear tissue brightly colored tissue paper in rough petal shapes. Using Mod Podge, glue petals to a large square of butcher paper. Make three to four flowers, leaving room between them. After the flowers are dry, use oil pastels in contrasting colors to fill in gaps. (Leave a white border around the tissue paper.) If oil pastels are high enough quality, they can be smoothed out with q-tips and baby oil.

Art Museums on a Shoestring: Google Art Project

Granted, it's limited when you consider the sheer amount of art out there to be cataloged and photographed in great detail...but it's a start.

For those of us who cannot flit off to MoMA at a moment's notice, it's amazing! I like this piece of art by Van Gogh so much that I knew it was destined to be a floor to ceiling mural in an apartment I never rented. Nonetheless, I've never seen the original hanging on the wall, under the floodlights. Now, without leaving the (relative) comfort of my armchair, I can see all the brushstrokes close up and personal. It's almost as good as the real thing. Ok. Maybe not, but it's a step up from viewing the photo above. You can see each brushstroke, for Pete's sake. Whoever Pete is... I've always thought that Van Gogh was quite lavish with his application of paint. But when I viewed this piece of artwork, I could see the undercoat quite clearly in several places.

Like I said, it's still limited in scope, but I eagerly anticipate the addition of other museums to the collection. Since we live in the middle of a desert "museumically" speaking, I am beyond excited to show this website to the girls. The Straight-haired girl will be amazed. Who am I kidding: I am amazed! I've already been drawing and sketching and learning from seeing the next best thing to the "original." I think I've found my muse for the next week. Or two. Thanks, Harmony Art Mom, for spreading the word!

What Cost: Education?

While I do not agree with everything Ken Robinson says, this is highly interesting. What do you think?

Sketchbook Delight

I signed up to take Alisa Burke's Sketchbook Delight online class, and I have to say it's helped me accomplish something I have been longing to do for over the past, um, 23 years.

Oh dear. That's a long, long time. So, I finally decided enough is enough. Time to put my money where my mouth is. Time to let myself be a little closer to what I was intended to be. Time to stop waiting for the perfect time.