Fine Art Friday

To me, nothing is as effective for art appreciation as visiting an art museum or lingering in a beautiful art book while listening to classical music, discussing beautiful works of art. But there are some seasons when that just doesn't happen around here! Here's where my kids will be exploring art today:

Harcourt Art Express

You might want to check it out for your kids, too.

Appreciate something beautiful today!

Fine Art Friday: Seurat

Geoges Seurat: "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte"—1884, 1884–86 Oil on canvas

Last week while we were discussing some of the paintings in the online art detective activity, my son asked, "Oooh! Is that the guy that paints with all the dots?" I remembered how much he loved looking at Seurat a few years ago, and thought today might be a fun day to revisit him now that the kids are older. I found a wonderful website put together by the Art Institute of Chicago called Art Access. We will be reading about Seurat here in the Impressionism/Post Impressionism section.

This painting is particularly fascinating because of the technique: pointillism. Pointillism is the technique of applying small points of color to the canvas so that at a distance they blend together. My kids have always been intrigued by how "up close" it's a bunch of dots, but as you back away they form a very distinct picture with subtle shading, outlines and shadows. Of course, we'll have to try our hand at it as well... And for good measure, we'll practice saying the painting's title in French: "Un dimanche apres-midi a l'Ile de la Grande Jatte"

Appreciate something beautiful today!

Fine Art Friday: Art Detective

Today we will be searching for this mystery painting:


In a fun online Art Detective mystery here. Maybe your kids would like to try it, too!

Fine Art Friday

Okay, I love this! "Fine Art Friday." I saw this over at Mental Multivitamin a couple of weeks ago, who linked the idea back to Quiet Life. We used to spend so much more time in "art appreciation" than we do now, and that's something I want to change in the new year. Now is when they will really be able to actually appreciate it! So I thought it would be fun (when I'm together enough) to post the art we will be talking about that Friday. Here is ours for today:

Henry Ossawa Tanner, Christ and His Mother Studying the Scriptures (Christ Learning to Read), 1910. Oil on canvas. Dallas Museum of Art

There is an interesting bio of the painter, Henry Tanner, here.

I actually have this reproduction framed in our schoolroom. I bought it several years ago when we were at the DMA, because it really speaks to me as a homeschooling mom. Mary, one arm wrapped around Jesus, the other holding a copy of the scriptures for Him to see. I love the way Jesus is pointing to the words. I love thinking of Him "reading aloud" to His mother. Him reading the scriptures aloud to her would be akin to one of my kids reading me one of their original compositions! He wrote the very words she helped Him learn to read. It's a powerful image to me, and each day when I see it in our study it reminds me to take my role seriously, as I imagine Mary herself did.

Appreciate something beautiful today!