My eldest daughter is fanatical about anything creative. Over the next few years, we are hoping to build a portfolio of work she has done to be able to take to the college she wishes to study at. One of the courses I suggested was the study of the great artists. She was willing, but she asked not to spend weeks on one artist. We discussed it and came up with a very simple plan of action to study one artist per week.
L13 and I decided we wanted a course which was systematic, inexpensive requiring little else other than art supplies, easy enough for L to do independently and with a lot of choice of projects to choose from. I knew just the course! Introducing the excellent and free art lessons from Concordia University:
We have used these lessons before but only to supplement a much bigger artist study. This time L would use only these lessons, nothing else. The lessons are presented in grade form going from Grade one to Grade eight, which may sound like they will be too young for L. They really are not. Each grade level focuses on ten artists. L will begin on artist one in Grade one (Cezanne) and work her way through each of the ten artists, then move on to Grade two and so on and so forth until she has completed all eighty of the artists.
Each lesson requires me to print out a double lesson page and a larger print out of the picture they focus on by that particular artist (in this case Cezanne):
Each print out includes loads of information about the artist (in this case Cezanne) and in-depth analysis of the picture the study is focusing on (here it is The Blue Vase):
The second sheet includes ‘Directed Observation‘ which consists of 12 or so questions which will help L think a little more deeply about the picture, along with a series of 10 or more ‘Things to do‘:
Also included down the left hand side of the second sheet, is some explanations of elements of art, principles of design, composition and artistic styles to help the student appreciate the art even more:
This week L13 learnt about Cezanne. After reading the two sheets and discussing the questions with me, she decided to replicate The Blue Vase using canvas and oil paint. First she outlined her picture in black:
Then began to fill in with different coloured oil paint. She learnt to blend her colours as she went along:
She doesn’t consider herself a painter or drawer and I think she quite surprised herself:
She did this entirely by herself in one sitting. Literally she would not stop until she had completed it to her satisfaction. Both she and I were very happy with the freedom home school allows which meant she could paint and eat lunch at the same time 🙂
She is gifting this painting to my mum who will hang it in her holiday flat by the coast:
She is one happy little girl right now!