Because Nothings says Fall like Monet's Lily Pads...

Okay, so they don't scream "AUTUMN!" but I love Monet's work.  I became a fan of the Impressionist painters when I was in Jr. High, and never quite shook it.  This week, the girls and I made our own versions of Claude Monet's Water Lily Series, with the Japapese footbridge.  I loved the concept of using painter's tape to create the clean lines of the bridge.

                                     

Here's the website, Runde's Room, I found the tutorial on (actually found on Pinterest!) ;)

First we used painter's tape to make the bridge.  Using small pieces, we could make the curve more easily.

Lucia was eager to get painting! :)

 And so, we began by making dabs of paint on the bottom, focusing on the dark blues and greens of
the water.  We then painted right over the painter's tape, filling in everything that was white.

 Once we made our way to the bridge, we began incorporating more of the greens and yellows, to represent the sunlight coming through the trees.

We let them dry overnight, and then carefully peeled off the tape.  It's a gentle process, since we had the paper begin to rip in some spots.  Gingerly, we got all the tape off.  Then, we added a little more green to the bottoms of our paintings, for the lily pads.  We were impatient, so we dried those with the hair dryer. ;)

Then we took small brushes, and dabbed on our lilies.  

A word to the wise... be careful about making changes to the painting after the tape has been removed.... Eva had a little episode with her green and the bridge.  I think we fixed it with some white paint.

I'm loving how they turned out! :)

So, while they don't necessarily shout "fall craft!"  I'm so glad we did this project.  The girls were able to take in a ton of Monet's works, and increased in their appreciation of what processes and techniques he used to make the lovely art he did.  Works for me!

This is a video of a number of works of lily pads that Monet created.  There's also a few photos of him in his older age.  It was a great background to our work, and the girls actually wanted it on repeat, so they could draw inspiration from his paintings.

Water Lilies- Monet (6 minute video gallery)

Multimedia Art: Fall

Girlfriends keep me busy when it comes to art.   On Monday, they are already asking me what we are going to do for art class on Tuesday.  They wake up on Tuesday, hoping that I will let them know just what inspiring, exciting art activity we'll be working on later that day.  And honestly, when they ask-- I have no idea.  I know I should have it all planned out in my book.... but, (confession here) I don't. 

So, this morning I thought of the cute tree outline I pinned on Pinterest (I'm telling ya!).

from:  http://onefabday.com/diy-project-free-fingerprint-tree-template/

This is originally presented as a tree that you can use at a wedding to have guests put fingerprints on as leaves.  Cute idea... one I was thinking about using this fall for our family.  But, art class beckoned. So... I decided we could use this gem for a lesson in multimedia art.  Really, why that came to my mind, I'm not sure... so, after a quick Google search of what exactly multimedia art actually is, I realized it would be perfect.  I quick-started a little lesson about multimedia art with the girls, that even included a little root words/meaning lesson about the term "multi"- many, and "media"- mode of communicating your idea.  Fantastic!  I gave them some ideas for inspiration... and we were set to be as creative as our little hearts desired.

Eva painted the background of her picture with watered-down poster paint.  She did this only after realizing she didn't like glued on paper... I love how she's experimenting with ideas to see what works, and what might not work as well. 

Lucia's love of animals shines through in her art.  She found a reindeer and a bird on her picture, along with a happy mushroom (thank you Land of Nod fall catalog! :) )

 

What I love about Eva's project, is that she printed out picture of herself and a friend.  She cut them out, inserted them into the picture, and made a rake for them each to hold.  They are busy at work! :) 

Here's Mama's art too... gotta do it with them! :)

"In this house... we do grateful hearts."

It's the first day of Fall!

We've spent most of the day enjoying the outdoors and spending time with neighbors.  Our houses are pretty close together, and I love how the proximity breeds familiarity and a sense of community.  Saturdays for us are often marked with homemade pancakes, eggs, berries-- a big breakfast.  Luci loves being my sous-chef with the pancakes.  She takes pride in stirring the batter to just the right consistency.  I personally find it hilarious that my 5-year-old actually knows how to stir it just right.  She told me today "keep the lumps, but make sure its all together."  Eva was busy at the stove making her famous scrambled eggs.  She can cook them herself, thanks to her father's lessons, and much to my chagrin that she was in front of a hot stove.  Anyway, today, I was happy she could make them for us.

Breakfast ended a little differently for us today, as it's the first day of fall. In my Pinterest searching (see? there's tremendous value to that little addiction!), I found a wonderful idea of creating a "Thankful Tree" where your family can keep track of things you're are thankful for, and have it displayed in your home.  Instead of simply thinking thankful thoughts in the month of November, I thought it would be great to extend our time of thanks to a season of thankfulness.  I'd rather cultivate in their hearts gratefulness throughout a long period of time, than simply for Thanksgiving.  To do this, I guess we have to model it. ;)  So, for our family, for the next two months, we are going to try to be mindful of what we are thankful for.

We have our little note cards, markers, and the tiniest cutest black clothes pins to attach our notes of thanks to the branches.  We want to try to be more consistently conscious of the things we can be thankful for-- for more than a couple of weeks.  So, hopefully in this season of thankfulness, we will breed in our girls (and ourselves) and attitude of recognizing all that God has provided for us, in so many creative ways.

So far, we are thankful for Lola, Houses/Shelter and Saturday mornings.  I'm so excited to see what the Lord brings to our minds in the next couple of months.  We have so much to be thankful for-- I'm excited to begin having a mind and heart to notice.  This can be our "stone of rememberance" this fall-- a place to recount all that the Lord has done, and continues to do.

While outside the trees will be emptying, this one will be filling.

In this house, we do grateful hearts.

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
Colossians 2:6-7

Visiting Old Salem

 

I just love the support there is for homeschoolers.  We have lived in NC for 2 years now and never knew about Old Salem in Winston Salem! I just happened by it in a conversation a few weeks ago.  when I looked it up online, such enough in September there's a couple Homeschool Days, where they offer extra exhibits and learning experiences.  Incredible!



Ever since I went to Williamsburg, VA as an 8th grader on a school trip, I was in love with the Colonial time period.  The architecture.  The stories.  My imagination goes wild.  Old Salem did not disappoint.  There was a puppet show of Aesop's fables, there were demonstrations on topics from how brooms were made, how linen was made from the plant, how guns were made, to herbs in the apothecary.  It was such an excellent display of colonial life, and included things that go beyond what you typically find.  It was awesome!

                                    

                             

The sidewalks have hills and valleys of their own... over time the tree roots have moved them! 

Luci standing on a little hill in the sidewalk

 

Lucia's little finger included ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anasazi Pottery

The first day of school was a Tuesday.  As our scheduled played out, Art is on Tuesday.  My first thought was that we would make some wonderful school banner, to instill some sort of "homeschool pride" in my girls the very first day.  That sort of fell apart as Eva and I had walked through the craft store the night before, and I couldn't think of a thing to make a banner better than the stick-on letters and Eva's birthday banner from the week before.  So... that'll not quite go over as an Art activity.

Then I looked in my handy Art instruction book. 



This book is fantastic.  No matter how well-versed you are (or in my case, not) in art lingo, this offers easy to follow, fun art activities that actually teach something.  I had happened to pick up some modeling clay that just dries hard (without baking) and then found a great project of pinch/ coil pots that you painted white and black.  Voila. Anasazi pottery.  It was a great lesson in history too.  We looked up pictures of the Anasazi homes on the web-- it was amazing-- they lived on the sides of cliffs!  We Googled Anasazi homes, and voila, the images drew us in to a time and place that inspired us!

Anasazi pottery is marked by its black geometric designs "painted on" using herbal techniques.

This project took 2 weeks in Art-- one week they made the pots. The next week, they learned about and painted the geometric patterns to make it truly Anasazi-style.  Lucia did insist on using blue, which doesn't really meet the "Anasazi" standard.  But, she now knows what they did, and hey, she used her own artistic prowess to create something new.  I'm for it.

Some web resources: 

http://www.clayhound.us/sites/anasazi.htm
Clay Hound web: Anasazi Pottery
This website shows real pieces of found pottery from a thousand years ago!  It enlivened my girls' imaginations about how long ago people made and used this pottery.  

http://www.anasazipottery.net/
Anasazi Pottery Replicas:  This website shows wonderful pictures of replicas of Anasazi pottery.  It helped to inspire my girls in thinking about what geometric patterns they might incorportate in their own pottery designs.