Sweetness and Light

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.

One-Stop Music!

Thanks to Helen at Castle of the Immaculate there is a great One-Stop Music List for your perusal!!  She has compiled all the great music studies into one post for easy reference!  Thanks Helen, this is GREAT! Enjoy!

Music Time: An Orchestra Unit!

We'll be soon embarking on an Orchestra Unit here at Sweetness and Light!  We had such a lovely time learning about Saint-Saens and the Carnival of the Animals, but it's time to move on to some different music studies!  Thanks for Lissa for some new links relating to ear-training and note learning games and activities!!  These are sure to be a "hit" in our music-loving family!!

As many of our Unit Studies revolve around really great picture books, so too will our Orchestra Study!  Many of our favorites come from suggestions on the Real Learning Booklist, and others are discoveries of our own! 

We had the pleasure of enjoying a wonderful "Dress Rehearsal" performance by our local Philharmonic this past Saturday, as a surprise field trip to kick off our study!  It was great.  Their theme was Sounds of America and they did some beautiful pieces by Gershwin, Ives and Copeland.  Our favorite was the ending Rhapsody in Blue and most especially the pianist's part, he was exceptional!!  This was a family friendly event and most affordable at only $30/family.  The setting was relaxed and the sound mangificent.  I encourage you to look into this type of opportunity for your family as well, it was truly worth it!

Now, back to the books!!  For starters, Our Bookshelf is filled with:

Zin Zin Zin! A Violin! (Video, Audio CD, and Picture Book)

Berlioz the Bear, by Jan Brett (Video and Picture Book)

Meet the Orchestra:  First Instruments (Baby Einstien DVD)

Meet the Orchestra (Baby Einstien Audio CD)

Meet the Orchestra, picture book by Ann Hayes

Out & About at the Orchestra, by Barbara J. Turner

The Young People's Guide to the Orchestra:  Benjamin Britten's Composition on CD

Let's Look at Musical Instruments and the Orchestra, by C. O. Rhodes

We'll of course be listening to lots of different styles of Orchestral music and these will just be some random picks of mine.  I especailly like the following sites for music appreciation and choosing music activities and listening online:

Interactive Symphony:  The Orchestra

Classical.net

DSO Kids (Dallas Symphony Orchestra)

The Classical Music Pages

There are a myriad classical music sites, I'm sure an entire lifetime could be spent just on Music Appreciation, wouldn't Charlotte Mason be happy about that!!  But we will have to keep it reigned in to this for now!

I hope you'll join us for a few musical pieces here and there, if you have a favorite resource or site, let me know in the comments section, it will be truly appreciated!!  And don't miss the ongoing Composer Studies at the 4Real Learning Forums, there is always a wealth of information waiting for you anytime!!

Happy reading and listening and thanks for visiting today!!

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!

The Angelus: Jean-Francois Millet (1859)

The Angelus by Jean-Francois Millet (1859) is probably one of the most famous of his works.  It is simply beautiful in it's representation of the faithful pausing for prayer during their work in the field.  This beautiful devotion in honor of the Incarnation of Our Lord and veneration of his Blessed Mother as a form of commemorating the Annuciation is recited at morning, noon, and evening at the sound of a bell rung in many churches, religious houses and institutions.  From early times the ringing of the bells consisted of nine strokes in groups of three with a pause between.  However, nowadays, this is followed by a series of nine even strokes. 

In so many countries the Angelus was, and is, particularly associated with peace arising in the tradition that the Annunciation took place in the peace of eveningtide.

"Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae" (The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary)

We have chosen a few of Millet's works for our April Artist study.

Also we are incorporating the Angelus prayer into our daily noon prayer time.  If we are away from table time, then I will ring a little bell to commemorate the tolling in so many countries around the world for the call to prayer.

Violet and Matthias will copy this beautiful verse for their copywork notebooks: 

I hear the Angelus ring out…Each

Morning, noon and night…And

Everything of life becomes…More beau-

tiful and bright…The Angel of the Lord

is there…And Mary bows her head

…In humble recognition of…The

message that is said…Each day I listen

to her words…And cherish every one

…”Behold the handmaid of the Lord

…And may Your will be done”…

And so the miracle was wrought…And

there was born a Child…While king

and shepherd knelt in awe…And holy

Angels smiled…I hear the Angelus ring

out…And softly fade away…And

in my heart I know The Lord…Has

blest another day.

(Poem courtesy of A Wreath of Flowers:  Marian Activities for Children)

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Tags: Art Arts  Artists  Europe Religion  Writing and poetry

A Few Things

A few things worth checking out this week:

Over at St. Athanisius Academy, Mary's given a beautiful book review on this month's artist study featured on the 4real forum.  It's not too late to jump in with Winslow Homer!

My dd Violet had the privilege of performing The Sleeping Beauty with her ballet class two Springs ago, so we were delighted to learn this months composer also on the 4real forum is Tchaikovsky.  Here is a sweet price on 25 of his works!

Beautiful Ideas for Art Study, Copywork, Bible Study

I just found this beautiful blog by way of Bonny Glen (HT: Lissa) and couldn't resist sharing it for those who may not have found their way to Mozart and Mudpies.  It's a truly Charlotte Mason site with lots of beautiful pictures and examples of copywork, art study, bible study, and more.  Thought you might enjoy this one as I do!  Keep up the good work Ann. 

You might also want to check out the February Artist and Composer over at 4real, it's Winslow Homer and Tchaikovsky.  Thanks again to Amy and Sarah for their work on this wonderful part of our Charlotte Mason education.

So How's Your Artist Study Going?

So we're casually looking at our first Manet painting that I printed out on the computer, it's a little small and not as great as if it were copied out of a book, and here's our *brief* encounter.

Me:  "Well, what does everyone think of this beautiful beach scene by Manet."

Violet: "You mean Monet mommy."

Me:  "No, actually, I do mean Manet.  He's also an Impressionist from around the same time as Manet." 

Violet:  "Oh."

Me: (back to my origianl question) "So, what do you think of this one, (pointing again at the beach scene)"

Violet:  "Not much."  (Silence from the boys.)

Well, I think that went well. 

Me:  "Ok, who's ready for some hot chocolate and a snack?"

Everyone:  "Yeah!" 

So much for La Plage: Bourgone-sur-mer.  Sorry, Manet, we'll try another one next week.  (Sigh)

January Artist & Composer

La Plage:  Boulogne-sur-Mer

Edouard Manet c. 1869. 

We are also doing the Artist & Composer Study mentioned on Lissa's blog for the month of January (or thereabouts).  Some wonderful ladies (thank you Amy & Sarah) have headed up the charge and are helping out many moms (and dads probably) with some of the real learning that sometimes gets put on the CM back-burner!  This is one less thing to plan.  If you haven't taken a peek, now's your chance. *Hint:  If you click on the image, it will enlarge in another window to view details.