Sweetness and Light

Art Spotlight :: Whales, Coral Reefs & Tropical Fish

This year I am really trying to have doing art a bigger focus in our life. It has been going pretty well so far and I thought I'd share a few things this week.  These art projects were lately inspired by the wonderful ideas from Patty at Deep Space Sparkle. She has such easy to follow lessons & ideas that are readily doable with a minimum of supplies necessary for most projects. LOVE that!

A few weeks ago we were on a Blue Whale kick and thus resulted these very blue pieces :: We loosely followed the ideas for the whales in this 3 Ingredient Art plan. We chose to do a wet watercolored background rather than the tissue paper collage background, although I really like that one too. (Next time ;-)

Seamus' Blue Whale

Sean-Paul's Blue Whale (sans any background)

My blue whale, and yes it looks a bit cartoonish, I'm still a Kindergartner at heart :)

After we ventured around with the whales for a bit, we dove into a Coral Reef study that of course led to looking at scads of pictures and videos of tropical fish, coral reefs, and such. Here is some fun postcard artwork that my crew created, and are still working on casually when the inspiration arises :: These pieces were influenced by the tropical fish lessons in this set, also at Deep Space Sparkle. Rather than do another larger size watercolor, we thought postcards would be fun and different.

Sean-Paul's Fish (not a postcard)

Violet's Coral & Fish postcard

Matthias' (work in progress)

Seamus' postcard #1

Seamus' postcard #2 (in progress)

I thought these turned out really well, and gave everyone an opportunity to do some great sketching before using the watercolor paints. We used pan paints for this project, although we really like wet watercolor paints too. The postcard size was fun too as it gave them some perspective in creating smaller pieces rather than one large painting. Good stuff!!

In terms of art appreciation and picture study, our focus this term has been on Vermeer. I am using these combined art and music appreciation plans by Harmony Art Mom to include Haydn into our days as well. I know she calls this a "mini-unit", but it is truly meaty enough to glean some great art and music appreciation for several weeks up to a couple of months depending on interest. We happen to be very interested in Josef Haydn as Seamus has learned and performed all three movements of Haydn's Cello Concerto in C very adeptly and so we love to hear pretty much anything by Haydn ;-)

I hope these ideas inspire you to do some fun art with your kiddos and view and listen to some great art and music. Many blessings in your week ahead!

Autumn Afternoon Crafts

We had a fun and relaxing afternoon craft time yesterday. The weather was somewhat gloomy and I had a few under the weather (just slightly). So we pulled out the craft table and got to work on some fun Autumn ideas.

Here are some random shots of the crafters and their projects ~

Bats are big here ~

(please ignore the hideous paint color)

All in all, an enjoyable afternoon and we chased the clouds away by early evening and were blessed with this beautiful gift after dinner ~

Hope your weekend is off to a beautiful start! God Bless :)

Sailing Along with Artsy Days

What a glorious sunny day we had today, perfect for another outdoor artsy day! We've been having some amazing sunsets lately too and I remembered this delightful lesson at Deep Space Sparkle and thought it was a great day to give it a try!

As with all Patty's great projects, she gives simple, step-by-step instructions that are easy to follow and teach (my kind of art lesson).

For this lesson, I decided first off to show the kids some different stock images of sailboats at sunset to give them some perspective of color and light.

 

 

In addition, throughout our weekly travels to activities we always pass by two separate bodies of water, the Puget Sound and Lake Washington where we have ample opportunity to spot boats of all kinds, but many times sail boats in different stages of sailing. This helped give them something tangible to base their pitcures. It helps that we also have a view of the lake :)

Here is our very simple set up ~

• Paints
• Scissors
• Scrapbook Paper (for the sail boat shapes)
• Glue
• Water jar
• Paper

Painting sunsets in progress...

 
(We liked Patty's suggestion of mixing colors directly on to the paper to create the sunset effect)

 

(Seamus painting his water and simultaneously catching ladybugs on his shirt, they're EVERYWHERE right now!)

 
(Sean-Paul creating his "waves" with texture technique)

 
(Sissy helping Sean-Paul glue on his boat and sails)

 

Finished!! A very proud boat owner!! (He did AWESOME with this project, right down to cutting all his own shapes and putting it all together) Way to go SP!!

Here are the results from the whole rest of the crew, a great project for ALL!

 
Top left, Violet, middle left, Seamus, bottom left, Sean-Paul, top right Moi, bottom right Matthias! (click photo for better view)

Here they all are lined up on the sunny window sill, this will make me smile every time I walk in to the room :))

 
 

Thank you Patty and Deep Space Sparkle for another super duper art day at Sweetness and Light! Many blessings in your creative days together :)

One Fish -Two Fish - Red Fish - Art Fish

What a blast we had this afternoon in the glorious autumn sunshine painting FISHES!!

Thanks to Deep Space Sparkle and another one of her genius art lessons for multiple ages this one worked like a charm on my fish loving crew (all except Matthias who is feeling poorly today) :(

As I was gathering materials for set-up on the deck, I was overjoyed to find my long, lost, art drop cloth (otherwise known as an old shower curtain) and it totally set the tone for our fishy art adventure!

 
(please don't ask me what that box is at the end of the deck)

I set out the primary paints in flat-bottomed jars, water cups, extra brushes, watercolor paints (for the background), a mixing palette, black marker and black oil pastels and a sheet of watercolor paper for everyone.

For the initial steps, Patty suggests using an oval template for the primary colored fish. Since our paper size was smaller (9x12) than the size in the lesson (12x18) we used an oval template from our Geometry cabinet and it proved the perfect size with plenty of room for more fish to be added around in varying sizes and shapes.

After the fish were drawn and a few details added, painting the primary fish commenced. This was fun to see the vibrant, bright colors take hold on the page!

 

After this step, we mixed up some secondary colors in shades of green, orange and purple. *Note-to-self: Next time I might thin the paints a bit as ours were pretty heavy, but we achieved exhuberent colors nonetheless :)

Following a little drying time we used watercolor paints in shades of blue to paint all the background "water".

 

The finishing steps were to add any details that were initially painted over and outline the fish in either some black paint, a marker or a black pastel. We opted for the black marker with some very nice results.

 
(Seamus's fish, 3rd grade)

 
(Sean-Paul's fish, Kindergarten)

Sean-Paul decided to leave off the black marker detail and I think his rendition is lovely and truly colorful, which is what we hoped to achieve :) He also enjoyed reciting what all the colors became after we started mixing!

Have you tried this one with your sweeties yet???

Many blessings in your week ahead!

Color Your Week With Creativity

I have made a firm pact with myself that this year we are going to do some sort of creative art endoeavor every week. Wednesday seems to be our best day at the current moment, so we're going with it.

Today, was our day with Monet.

We were inspired to try the "Monet Water Lilies" pastel and watercolor project at Art Projects for Kids . We love so many of Monet's works and this one is a natural for emulating his style. We liked the simplicity of the project, and that each individual was able to add their own depth and creative touches to make the project their own (this is my kind of art ;-)

 Here are the artists renditions ~

 
(From right to left top to bottom: Seamus, Matthias, Violet, Moi, postcards by Violet)

Close ups ~

 

Seamus (age 8) ~ I love how he bunched all his lilies together at the bottom and used the green for swirly water around the top.

 
Matthias (age 12 in 2 weeks) ~ I love his peachy-orange lilies as they really stand out in their own vibrant clumps, beautiful use of watercolors to fill in all around and cover the page.

 
Violet (age 14) ~ not only did she create her first piece, but was inspired to make some lovely postcard size as well. I love them all!

 
Moi (age of no importance) ~ this was a really fun project for me as it did not weigh on perfection ;-)

Sean-Paul decided he wanted to do something different and created his own idea.

 

Sean-Paul ~ a delightful hummingbird named Bob that visits us daily, We LOVE Bob!

Some of our favorites resources for finding art projects are:

Deep-Space Sparkle (love all the age breakdowns for each set of projects)

Art Projects for Kids (many very doable and fun ideas here)

Barb @ Harmony Art Mom (always something fun to discover here)

What are you favorite sites for art project ideas??? Do share :)

Hope you had a great day and many blessings in the rest of your week.

A Day With the Sorrowful Mother

We enjoyed such a lovely afternoon creating pastel gardens for the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows yesterday. The children entered in to their work with abandon and several images were created by more than one of the crew.

 

Here they are, hard at their work. A labor of love for Our Lady, indeed :)

 

The finished works on the altar mantlepiece...(not too sorrowful, I might say). To their credit, they were pleased and happy with their work.

 

A little closer look...

 

We finished our celebration in the evening with a family rosary and the Litany of the Seven Sorrows of Mary, and some beautiful flower-shaped shortbread cookies! I do hope you were able to enjoy this most glorious feast of Our Lady with your loved ones!

Many blessings to you all.

Artsy Morning

We had an "Artsy morning" today :) It was a beautiful way to start the day for something different and fun. I have been wanting to create some watercolor postcards along the lines of these and these (which are SO inspiring I might add) and so today was a good day for it!

I love to combine music and art, I don't know, it just adds something to the experience, at least for me :) We are loving this right now.

We also devised a little "mini clothespin art hanger-upper-thingie", yeah, it's sort of doo-hickey-ish, but hey, it's the beginning of beauty emerging :)

 

Works in progress ~

 

And more...

A little closer look ~ Violet's :: Butterfly

 

:: Ocean at Sunset with Dolphin (also Violet)

 

Matthias' work :: Forest scene with Bluebirds and Squirrel

 

Seamus' postcards :: Flowers, Sun and Bee

 

:: Evergreen Forest with Matthias and him walking...

 

Sean-Paul's beautifully shaded work ::

 

And last but not least, a little seaside scene by Moi, it's was FUN!!!

 

We had such a good time moseying through our first hour or so, we may have to visit this every week:)

Many blessings in your day!!

Art Around the House

I thought I'd give you a little tour of artwork that has been spotted around the house. Sean-Paul and Seamus were especially thrilled when I brought the easel out onto the patio for their painting pleasure:

 

Sean-Paul is very particular where he places his colors:

 

And the final products on the walls: (Click on images to enlarge in a new window)

 

And Violet couldn't resist a little something for her bedroom door: 

Hope you're enjoying some fun creative endeavors with your sweeties! Many blessings in your day!

Craft of the Week Club #6: Accordian Display Books

Accordian Display Books for Children's Art and other stuff!

I have been enjoying the Mom's Little Book of Displaying Children's Art by Lisa Bearnson and I thought this would be the perfect thing to kick off the new school year with a "plan" for displaying all the wonderful keepsake art that our children create!  This idea is really a scrapbooking solution, but has MANY possibilites which I will list later in the post.  It is truly an open-ended craft that you could tailor to your current art projects or save for an extra special Feast or Celebration that you want to highlight!

I love the simplicity of this craft and it's ability to "morph" into whatever-suits-your-fancy! 

Here is the example from the book mentioned above:

Here are the supplies you will need in order to make one Accordian Display Book:

• Cardboard or other stiff art board (you could also purchase a pre-made accordian book to fill in with your own art, just another option)
• Decorative Scrapbook Paper
• Photo Mounts
• Glue Stick or Spray Adhesive
• Tacky Glue
• Ribbon or Lace
• Gel or Metallic Pens
• 4-6 pieces of your Children's Art work reduced to prefered size of display book (The one I'm showing is approximately 8 1/2  x 11 inches)

Here are the supplies I have chosen:

Violet's Art Work, some beautiful tracings and sketches of Redoute's Roses:

Shades of green scrapbook papers:

Ribbons (I chose the white as it didn't detract from the other colors in the art):

Instructions for assembly:

Set up cardboard pieces the way you want them to appear, leaving a space twice the thickness of the cardboard between them.  Cut two pieces of ribbon or lace a foot longer than the combined widths of cardboard; the extra foot should hang over the left side of the panel that will be your cover.  Using tacky glue, glue the two pieces of ribbon or lace in parallel rows across cardboard, one closer to the top and one closer to the bottom.  Let dry.  Flip and do the same thing to reverse side, making sure the extra foot of ribbon or lace hangs over the back of the cover panel (just as the front piece of ribbon or lace does).  Let dry.  Tie bows.  Using any color of cardstock, and a gel or metallic pen, create a cover with your child's name.  Crop and mount copies using glue stick or photo mounts.  Proudly display your child's new Accordian Display Book!!

And here's how mine turned out:

Front Cover

Inside Pages (I created three for this book)

Now for some *Extension* ideas (lovely Montessori-ish term, eh?) for the Display Books:

• Feast Days of a Month in Holy Cards
• Stations of the Cross Book
• Rosary Mysteries Book
• Art Impression Study Cards
• Mini "Who Loves Me" Toddler Album with felt cover and laminated photos (this is my next project for Sean-Paul, I think he'll LOVE it)!!
• Phases of the Moon Book
• Planets & Constellations
• Pressed Flowers
• Any Holy Cards Display Book
• First Communion or Confirmation Pictures &/or Narrations of the event, heck why not Baptism...
• A "Day in the Life of..." Picture Journal (could do week or month also)

Have a good time with this craft and in my mind, simple is better to let the displayed item shine through!!  Don't forget to visit Sarah at Plainsong for the complete schedule of Crafts by Week and the 4Real Learning Forums for past weeks' crafts!!

May God Bless you in your artistic days!!

This Week's Art Time (Don't Forget the Music)

Here's some highlights of our Art and Music Time this past week.  In case you missed this post, we love to combine our artistic pursuits with some listening pleasure!! 

Violet's rendition of "Starry Nights" by Van Gogh

Here are the boys, they decided to do flowers and a bird by Matthias in the Van Gogh style, using Impasto, it was so fun!!

So, the bird and the purple flower are Matthias's and the large circular flower and the two flowers together are Seamus's!  They really liked the thickness of the impasto and how vibrant the colors came through!  We we able to paint outside as well which is such a pleasure during these still somewhat warm fall days. What are you doing for art these days??

Art Time & Music Appreciation

One of the combinations I decided to PEG to one another this year is our Art Time and Music Appreciation.  We're starting our year off with some truly delightful Music Appreciation and our Artist studies will be enhanced by enjoying some beautiful musical pieces while we're creating our own Art or learning about an Artist. 

For Music we've chosen to visit Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals for a nice long while.  We love that Saint-Saens gave his first piano recital at age 5 and our Matthias (who is VERY musically inclined) also performed his first piano recital at the same age! 

We are truly enthralled by this particular musician and his ability to make a zooful of animals come alive with his music - it is enchanting and playful and a joy to listen to each and every time.  Violet's favorite part is the Swans and she has made up a beautiful impromptu ballet piece to accompany this part of the movement.  Seamus loves the Finale and Matthias loves it ALL!  We've already had various and sundry performances and "Shows" depicting all aspects of this delightful Carnival and hope to finish our study with a video recording of their own rendition of this very energizing musical study!

Now on to Artists and Art Appreciation, we've chosen Van Gogh as our starting Artist, not for any particular reason other than we've just never reall gotten around to him! (Poor guy!) 

I love how Helen at Castle of the Immaculate has integrated 'self portraits" into her Picture Study and how it helps to put a face with the name so to speak.  I think we'll do this as well, and unlike how Maria Montessori suggests putting art appreciation pictures down low at a child's level (even though I love this idea), we'll just try to fill a wall or a section of a wall with the Artists work for exploration and viewing at any time.  (Besides, Sean-Paul would just tear them down at this point : )  I have toyed with framed art, but so far have only been truly successful with using postcards, wall calenders, and slide shows and screen savers on my computer!  My dear children seem to really enjoy this - so until we can hang true art, we'll just go with the flow!  I should also say that I'm delighted to have Mary Ann Kohl's Discovering Great Artist's to use  as a springborad for ideas!  I know my sweeties will love creating their own fabulous art work while learning about some of the world's most interesting people in Art & Music, and I know I will enjoy their creations the most!

Artists Abound!

We are enjoying the beginning of our Artic/Antarctica unit and we started with a beautiful picture book by Jan Andrews, Very Last First Time (see Family Read-Alouds). The kids decided to draw their renditions of what they thought the bottom of the seabed would look like with the tide out.

From left, Seamus's (3 1/2) watercolor, top, Mathias's (7) & bottom Violet's (9) colored pencil drawings.

Modeling Clay Madness

We had Modeling Clay Madness yesterday morning and this was the only surviving little gem of which I was able to snap a picture.  (I think it's a rendition of "Cornflower" from Redwall if I overheard the conversation correctly!)  Enjoy!