May 14, 2009 - Vermeer Artist Study

Our artist this term is Vermeer. Since he only left 35 pieces, it's quite possible to study his entire collection in one term! Interestingly, there is no portrait of this artist and very little is known about his life. But we have his amazing art!

Here is one of Sprite's versions with the original following.





One day for our daily art narration, we did something different. I gave Sprite an image and asked her to identify all the things in this painting that we have seen in other Vermeer works. You see the same tapestry, window, and chair over and over. It makes this artist study like a scavenger hunt of sorts!  I plan to repeat this activity again later with another painting. (These pages go into Sprite's art notebook.)



Of course, when you study Vermeer, you've got to do your own version of The Girl with the Pearl Earring. And here it is.





I've gathered our resources at Vermeer Artist Study, including coloring pages and notebooking pages.

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January 23, 2009 - Picasso Artist Study

Our latest artist has been Picasso. What a shift from all the Impressionists we've studied before! Sprite is enjoying the Cubism a lot, but she dislikes the nude aspects. Since it makes her uncomfortable, we just skip over those or cover the "offending" parts. The book that we are using has a nice variety of his work, so even omitting the troubling paintings leaves us a lot to study.

Here is the work that Sprite chose to draw a version of. I ask her to make her own version because I think that it requires her to study the original very closely.



And we also used some magazine ads to practice making some cubist styled art. First is Sprite's:



Then mine. This was really fun! We'll do this again, I'm sure.



For more about the specific books and links we used, see Picasso Artist Study. In addition, there are links to printable coloring pages and notebooking pages specific to Picasso. All of our artist study photos are at Flickr Artist Study Set.

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November 10, 2008 - Cassatt Artist Study

We just completed our artist for this term -- Mary Cassatt. As we normally do, Sprite chose one of the paintings to make her own reproduction. This is hers.



The original



I chose to try my hand at A Little Girl in a Blue Armchair.


The original



And here is Sprite's notebooking page.



For a link to this printable notebooking page, details on the books we used, and more Cassatt resources, visit Mary Cassatt Artist Study. And there's a quiz there. See if you can find the Cassatt among the paintings.

It just so happened that all the artists we've studied in depth have been Impressionists (or Post Impressionists). So to make a very welcome shift, we're moving to Picasso!

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June 10, 2008 - Sketching Bridges Like Monet

When you're coming to the end of your artist study of Monet, you can't pass by a scene like this one without making a reference to the Japanese bridge at Giverny. I was thrilled when Sprite asked if we could sketch it just like Monet did.

She happened to get a bit sidetracked by some children who kept peering over her shoulder, so she spent most of her time like this.

And here is her finished portrait sketch. I thought it was fabulous! Even more so, I was proud of her attitude. She said as we were walking home that some people said her art was good. Others said it was bad. Some said it was so so. She laughed as she realized that everyone has a different opinion (which they seem to feel so very free to openly express) and that it made no difference to her what they thought. She was drawing for herself, not for them. (As a side note, she is not always so confident. But I was thrilled to hear this from her that day!)

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May 7, 2008 - Artist Study -- Monet

Our artist for this term is Monet. (We study art in a Charlotte Mason styled approach.) Although we haven't completely finished this master, we worked on a "reproduction." Actually it is a coloring sheet from a Dover publication. (I'm not sure which one.) I subscribe to the Dover samplers. And I download a lot of great freebies from what they offer.

This is our book of art prints with Sprite's coloring page on top.

My original intention for Sprite's Monet reproduction was to use the new watercolor pencils I brought from America. But since we're away from home (in Hong Kong), this coloring page was quite a bit easier. Although we didn't have a wide assortment of colors to work with, I encouraged Sprite to make do as best she could with what we had on hand.

Here are Sprite's and Monet's side by side.

If you plan to study Monet, I strongly recommend the title Linnea in Monet's Garden. It's a delightful book that has history, nature study, and art all wrapped up in a lovely story with beautiful illustrations. I bought this book and feel that it's well worth the money! (Don't you love it when you are pleased with a purchase?)

But this piece  below below was what really showed me that Sprite is absorbing Monet's style. She did this on her own and gave it to me as a gift. I noticed right away the similarities to the Impressionists -- the blurry colors and the reflected images in the water. She admitted that she was trying to make it like Monet's artwork. I was thrilled!

During our three weeks so far in Hong Kong, I've seen Monet's artwork on a courtyard wall and on a candy package! Fine art is everywhere. And it's so wonderful to be able to recognize the artist or even the name of the piece!

I'm updating this entry to include Sprite's notebooking page.

We used a combination of lapbooking and notebooking. Several matchbooks were mounted on cardstock for a notebooking page.

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