Sunday Morning Art Lessons

Week 2 of Sunday Morning Art Lessons: Artists Imagine

J opened the lesson by talking about how artists use their imagination to create art: they begin with ideas and gather information for their artwork. We then went on a walk around the neighborhood to gather some inspiration. We made some sketches of what we saw in our imagination when we looked at something ordinary in our world. When we got back we talked about the painter Marc Chagall (specifically in reference to two of his works: The Birthday & I and the Village) and how he used his imagination to show ordinary things in his life. Then, using our ideas from our sketches, we drew a picture of something we saw and used our imagination to show it in a different way. After our drawing was done we filled it in with watercolor pencils and then the fun really began! Using water and brushes we were able to blend our colors together to make a masterpiece!

learning about how artists use their imaginations

off on the walk

T sketching a flowering bush -
in his imagination the flowers were huge teeth

J talking to M about texture on the bark of a tree

my artwork for the day

T doing some more sketching

J talking about the reflections on water -
mainly the clouds/sky and trees

sketching away

T hanging out in the gazebo,
sketching a bit more before returning home

Marc Chagall - The Birthday

Marc Chagall - I and the Village

watercolor color wheel 

watercolor pencils

sketching out our final drawings

watercolor pencil time

J's version of the spray from the water fountain

M's imagination showed a whole beech seen at the pond

M's finished masterpiece -
(T's attention span was shot after only a few minutes back,
he did a bit of coloring/painting and then was DONE)

The Nile River

(Our Saturday Project got pushed back to Sunday afternoon due to the previous days' sleep over.) We made a Nile River terrarium! So much fun. Using an aluminum foil pan we filled it will potting soil, dug out the Nile River, lined the river bed with foil (so the water would stay contained), planted grass seed along the banks, and then watched as the Nile "flooded" and watered our seeds. Hopefully in a few weeks we'll have some nice green grass growing in there!

filling the pan up with dirt

lining the river with foil

gravel/rocks to help keep the foil on the bottom of the pan
(plus some  extra for decoration)

planting the grass seed

flooding the Nile

King Pins

Saturday M had one of her old classmates spend the night. We spent a few hours at King Pins before dinner, movie and bedtime. And, man, was I super rusty at my bowling skills. J beat me! Don't think that's ever happened before. Nevertheless, everyone seemed to have had a great time. And the sleepover is over so M can stop asking for one for a while at least. (Seriously, it's going to be a while before I say yes to something like that again. WOW.)

T used the ramp to help roll his ball -
super cute to watch him bowl

M's turn

Field Trip: Jump Around

By Thursday I was still not feeling so great, but the kids were going stir crazy. We had to get out! We spent the afternoon at Gaga's: low-key enough for me, but plenty of running (and jumping) around for the kids. 

Science Experiment - Reflectors

Our science experiment this week was on reflectors. We used two toilet paper tubes - we covered one end of the tubes with aluminum foil and the other with black construction paper. Then we took the covered tubes and a flashlight and went into a dark room. We shinned the flashlight into each of the tubes to see which one would shine. (Hint: it was the one with the foil.) We learned that the reason the tube with foil shined is because the foil reflects light, and that cat's eyes also reflect light which makes them appear to glow in the dark. 

Kick Back

Wednesday morning/afternoon was rough for me. Thankfully one of the perks of homeschooling is that we can literally "do" school anywhere. So, we camped out in the family room for a good part of the day, instead of going down to the classroom. We did everything we could on the couch and when needed spread out on the floor. 

T working on math
M working on writing

Field Trip: Bonnie & Clyde

I really want a pet chicken. Tuesday afternoon we got the chance to meet our friends' chickens - Bonnie and Clyde. They were so cute. Did not help at all with the wanting to own one as a pet. Not sure J is on board with that plan though.