Posts Tagged ‘art course’

Johannes Vermeer Art Projects for Kids

Monday, January 21st, 2019

vermeer-art-projects-for-kids

This post contains affiliate links. I was given access to the class to blog about it.

This is the third post in the series Mixing with the Masters: Volume 2, which includes six famous artists, with three works of art for your kids to re-create from each artist. The first week we showed you our projects for Henri Matisse, which were really colorful. Last week we did some fun art activities for Albrecht Dürer, including charcoal, ink printing, and watercolor. Today we will complete our short series of our favorite three artists by doing some fun art projects by Johannes Vermeer.

Girl with a Pearl Earring Mixed Media

The first work of art by Vermeer that we created is this mixed media girl. We painted a canvas black the day before starting this project. My kids chose different colors of scrapbooking paper for the turban, scarf, and shirt. You can print off the template if you need help with the face, but since you have to paint over the face anyway, you will need to look at Alisha’s artwork in the video to add the finishing touches to the eyes, nose, and mouth.

girl-with-pearl-earring-vermeer

I don’t know how my son got his eyes to look so life-like. (His is the first pictured above.) I think it’s because the eyeballs looked off to the right rather than the middle. My son’s picture reminded me a little of the Mona Lisa, which we did for another mixed media class in the past. Her eyes follow you as you sway to the right or to the left.

The Milkmaid Gouache Painting

This was a fun watercolor painting where we used brighter gouache paints. This milkmaid is pouring water into a bowl. The food on the table reminds me of a still life picture I did back in high school when I lived in Guatemala. We had a fruit bowl in the middle of the table that we had to sketch and then paint. Still life is a classic assignment for students learning to draw and paint.

milkmaid-gouache-painting

The Little Street–Line & Wash

I loved this cartoon-like line and wash watercolor painting! We started by sketching the buildings and street with pencil. We added the details of brickwork and window panes. Then we painted in an exaggerated, messy way, leaving some white space to create the cartoon-like effect.

little-street-line-wash

My daughter loved the way her sketch came out. If you look closely, you will see the wooden shutters on the windows, drawn with precision and detail. I like the perspective in her doorways. She does a lot of drawing in her free time, mostly Japanese-style cartoons. She decided to lean a broom against the wall inside one of the doorways.

building-sketch

We really enjoyed the three artists that we studied, and some day we might come back and do the other three, since there are six artists in the series. If you would like to grab this set of classes for your own kids, you can get them here. This is a high-quality art course, and my kids learned so much!

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Albrecht Dürer Art Projects for Kids

Monday, January 14th, 2019

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This post contains affiliate links. I was given access to the class to blog about it.

This is the second post in the series Mixing with the Masters: Volume 2, which includes six famous artists, with three fun works of art for your kids to re-create from each artist. Last week we showed you our projects for Henri Matisse, which were colorful and slightly abstract. This week we will focus on Albrecht Dürer.

Charcoal Young Hare

Our first work of art by Dürer is made with charcoal on tan paper. You will need at least one charcoal pencil, which you can get at an art supply store. You will also need a smudger. (I’m not sure what Alisha calls the white thing that smudges. I think she gave it a name like Alfred or something. Ha!) The other pencil you will need is a white pencil, which will make the fur pop on this drawing.

charcoal-young-hare

The fur on the bunny is fluffier in the front than in the back. Alisha gave step-by-step instructions in the video while we drew the bunnies on our clipboards.

The Fifth Knot Carving & Printing

Albrecht Dürer carved lots of woodcut patters that looked like labyrinths. The engravings he made could be dipped in ink and pressed onto paper like an old-fashioned printing press. For this art activity, you can carve on a rubber carving block, or if you’re broke like we are, just use some left-over styrofoam from meat that you bought at the store. Make sure to wash the styrofoam with soap and water and dry it thoroughly before carving this simple knot in it:

albrecht-durer-stamps

Oh, when I say simple, I mean the one that is the shape of a snowflake, which Alisha gives the template for. We used a wooden skewer to carve on the styrofoam. I branched off and make a Celtic cross, since I’ve been fascinated with Celtic crosses for years and have a collection of them in my closet. Back when I lived in England, I loved to travel around, and Celtic crosses were really popular necklaces, especially at castle and cathedral gift shops.

Iris Yroiana Gouache & Watercolor

Dürer did a series of nature studies and botanical paintings. This iris is one of them. We used gouache and watercolor for this painting. Always make sure to use watercolor paper rather than regular computer paper when you are watercoloring. It truly makes a huge difference in your painting, as the colors soak into the paper in a much better way on the higher-quality paper.

Iris-Yroiana-Gouache-Watercolor

We focused on different shades of blue and green, adding water to lighten the colors. The gouache was much brighter than the watercolors.

fun-with-durer

Once again, we had a ball discovering more about another famous artist. If you would like to grab this set of classes for your own kids, you can get them here. Stay tuned for the next artist in our series!

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Henri Matisse Art Projects for Kids

Monday, January 7th, 2019

henri-matisse-art-projects-for-kids

This post contains affiliate links. I was given access to the class to blog about it.

Several years ago, my kids took an online art class, where each week we focused on a different famous artist. It was called Mixing with the Masters. We created three different works of art for each famous artist:

  1. Da Vinci
  2. Rembrandt
  3. Monet
  4. Van Gogh
  5. Picasso
  6. O’Keeffe

Well, now Alisha (the art instructor) has come up with Mixing with the Masters: Volume 2, including six more famous artists. We will be focusing on our favorite three artists in this series, but you are welcome to do all six. When you’re in high school, SAT preparation and essay writing take precedence over classical art. (Sniff…) Today I would like to show you the artwork we did when we studied Henri Matisse, who was a colorful artist.

Woman with a Hat Pastel Painting

The first work of art that we created was with oil pastel crayons. Alisha provides a template to make it easier to begin with the shape of the woman with a flamboyant hat. My daughter has a sense of humor and drew a Chiquita banana hat on top of this woman. You can click the picture to see the hat better. It’s the one in the middle: the woman with the pineapple, grapes, and bananas.

woman-with-hat-pastel

It seems like Matisse just randomly splashed color around. The style of art reminds me of Picasso. Even the background of the picture has disjointed colors like a modern art stained glass window. The black outlines help to define the shape of the woman to distinguish her from the background of the piece.

matisse-pastel-art

I love how Alisha gives background information about each artist, why they painted the way they did, and whether they fit into the art culture of the time period. It’s really a brief study of history as well as a study of classical art techniques.

Goldfish Gouache Painting

Alisha introduced us to gouache painting, which is similar to watercolors but with more intense pigments. I like stronger, bolder colors anyway, so this was fun to do. The goldfish are in a bowl on top of a table surrounded by plants outside on a patio.

goldfish-gouache-painting-matisse

Once again, the black color defines the shape of the table and makes a good background for the fishbowl. I like how the goldfish are reflected on the top of the water.

fishbowl-art

You can print out a picture of the original artwork from Alisha’s course, so that you can see the colors that Matisse used in the painting. You don’t have to paint it all in one day. We listened to Billy Joel while painting this picture. My son Nathaniel chose to play “The Piano Man” in his last piano recital, and he was able to listen carefully to the song while painting this fishbowl. Art and music go together, and it puts us in a good mood for painting, not that the song has anything to do with fish.

Sorrows of the King Drawing with Scissors

Alisha provides a template that you can print out with the shapes of this colorful collage of a Biblical scene of David playing the harp for King Saul. My son chose to make the “frog man” on the left out of camouflage paper. You can see for yourself (clicking on the picture below, third piece) whether the “frog man” has disappeared. My daughter chose girly pink flower paper for part of the background. You can play with different colors and textures if you want.

sorrows-of-king-matisse

For each layer that you add to this collage, you will need to use Mod Podge. It’s pretty messy, so make sure to use newspaper under your work. We also used old paintbrushes from when the kids were toddlers, so that they could throw the brushes away when they were finished with the project.

matisse-kid-craft

We enjoyed doing these colorful projects for this famous artist. If you would like to grab this set of classes for your own kids, you can get them here. Stay tuned for the next artist in our series!

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Posted in Art | 11 Comments »

You are God’s Masterpiece

Monday, October 30th, 2017

you-are-gods-masterpiece

You are God’s masterpiece! God created you exactly the way He intended for you to be, with your unique strengths and personality. Your experiences and insights add to who you are, and when you yield fully to Christ, He brings out the best you that’s possible!

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 NLT

This post contains affiliate links of a class I love and recommend.

The inspiration behind this series came from an art class I took by Alisha Gratehouse called “You are a Masterpiece.” When I saw the description for the class, I knew that God was prompting me to take the class. I was trying to heal from a trial that had taken place in my life where after a lifetime of being confident, I suddenly felt like a worthless human being. I knew this was a lie from the enemy, so I wanted to splash into the Scriptures that proved who I truly was–who Christ says I am.

Alisha let me into the class at no cost because I’m a blogger, and when I started the class, I saw that she asked questions that helped me to process who I was, and that helped me to believe that I was beautiful to God. One of the art projects that is not pictured below (because I gave it away!) is the chalkboard art that said, “You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you” from Song of Songs 4:7. This Scripture hit me through the Spirit straight into my soul, and that is where my healing began.

you-are-a-masterpiece-art-class

Some of the art projects from “You are a Masterpiece” (like the Today I Choose block pictured in this post), I gave away to other women who have been struggling with the same worthlessness issues. For some reason the enemy has incapacitated almost the entire Christian female race into not knowing who we are, so that we accomplish nothing for His kingdom.

I looked around and saw nearly every woman in the same sinking boat, and I became furious at the enemy. How dare he incapacitate us, when we are powerful, accepted, loved, and forgiven? We are gifted and talented, and we have power over the enemy!

masterpiece

I was strongly prompted by God to do this series: 31 Days to Regaining Your Identity in Christ. I did it out of fury. I did it so that I myself could be healed. And as I got my hands messy with Mod Podge and paint in Alicia’s art class, the process of creating the art began to heal me. My circumstances had not changed, but I was accessing the mighty healing of God. If God came to set us free, we ought not to be living in sorrow. If Jesus came to bring life abundantly, where is that life?

I am certain that God is real, that Scripture is true, and there is no reason why we should remain in the muck of a living hell. Sorrow should not engulf us the rest of our days. All is not lost. If we are still on this earth, there must be a reason for us to still be here.

God did not create us so that we would live a life of torment, live in sorrow, unable to hardly breathe every day of our lives. He has not come to steal our hope and tell us that we are pieces of garbage that have no more use. No. These are lies from the enemy, and I’m done being lied to. That’s it. This much and no further, I say.

you-are-masterpiece

I have nearly come to the conclusion of this series, and I am astounded!!!! You guys, I have been set free, even though my circumstances have not changed! I have inward abundance, even though I have no money! I have joy and hope, even though anyone else in my situation would not bother getting out of bed!

If you are struggling with anything I’ve mentioned, I encourage you to go back and listen to each of the videos of this series. When you are finished, I hope and pray that you, too, will find healing and worth. You are God’s masterpiece!

If you don’t want to miss any of these posts from the series “31 Days to Regaining Your Identity,” why not sign up for my free monthly newsletter below, and follow my prayer page on Facebook.

you-are-a-masterpiece

 

My daughter and I created the artwork for this series from the course {aff} “You are a Masterpiece” by Alicia Gratehouse. If you love to do art and are discovering who you are in Christ, this is a great art course for you!

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