A Little Art Post

I thought it was time to get the art-works up on the blog.

As usual we are following journal lessons/ideas from Cathy's Art Projects for Kids; 

We've started the year thinking about all the things we are each looking forward to in the next twelve months. This would also make a good January page, but I decided September is also a significant 'stop and take stock' point in the year. So here are all the things my children hold in their hopes and dreams... (listed from eldest to youngest, with mine at the bottom).

These are painted with water colour pencils, but by whichever method of use they chose. It's interesting to see the differences between them. 

Our next page of the year was just a bit of fun really, and a mix of two idea from Cathy's blog. Again we used watercolour pencils for the background, and they had a choice of making or painting clouds. Making was definitely the easier option, but most chose to paint (or rather not paint) instead.

Again oldest to youngest going down, with mine at the bottom.

There's one art blog that I need to add, which was our final page from last year, but apparently I haven't even taken the pictures yes, so I'll set to that tomorrow when the journals come out for the next installment :D

I must say, I am SO happy to have found Cathy's blog. I would SO be lost without her ideas and 'tuition'. I am NO artist (as you can probably tell), but all of us (with the exception of Joel at times) are thoroughly enjoying this low-pressure art and I am particularly enjoying seeing the children's individual styles and preferences beginning to come through in their work. It's interesting to see what art mediums they choose to use when a choice is offered and to see that the older ones are beginning to be able to make thought through changes for their own desired outcomes. For instance, in the balloon picture above, Joel chose to not use watercolour pencils, but rather ordinary pencil. He did try the watercolour ones first, but was unhappy with his outcome and decided to start again without the water and to be honest I think I like his sky best! At the end of the day, it's about them finding the materials and methods that they are most comfortable to use and them being able to feel content, or even happy, with the outcome! I can remember my own frustrations with art as a child ~ often as a result of hurried school schedules that meant I often didn't have time to finish my work, but sometimes because of a teacher's insistence on a certain 'finish'. I knew in my heart that my work would be better left without that final step ~ because I knew I would ruin it if I did it ~ and then being very disappointed with the final outcome. I don't want that for my children. I must confess that I have, at times, been known to loose my rag a bit with them when they really won't listen to ANYthing I'm saying, and then of course don't know what they should be doing/aiming for! But on the whole my repeated phrases, when they constantly keep 'checking in' with "Is this OK?" ,  "Do you like my..?", "Can I use..?", "Do I have to..?", etc... are to say, "It's YOUR art. Do YOU like it? Do YOU think it's OK? ", "YOU decide what you would like to use to make your picture look how YOU want it to. You don't HAVE to do anything. All I am doing here is feeding you ideas. It up to YOU what ideas YOU have for your work." My aim is to kind of give them art-starters really. I'd like to see them flying more on their own and maybe even coming to me with ideas for their very own 'lesson' :D Something to work towards I guess...