Artist Study: Fra Angelico

Just a bunch of links y'all.

I have NO time for a thoughtful post. I'm just quick stashing these in case they need to be found later.
Of course, if it ends up like other stashes, I won't remember that I stashed them at all and forget to even look here...

Anyway.

I used these links this last week in our intro to Fra Angelico studies. Yes, we're still in Term 1 and just starting artist study. Never mind that technically, the first term was supposed to be done before Christmas break...

F.l.e.x.i.b.i.l.i.t.y is the name of the game around here.

Massacre of the Innocents, Fra Angelico

It had been a few minutes after passing out the prints so they could get an overall sense of the artist's style of work, when my seven year old spoke up about her painting. She said in a completely nonchalant way, "Mom, mine looks like it's about bunch of people trying to kill babies. Could I have a different one?"

It was funny.
You know, funny in a not funny way. Kinda.
Nevermind.

:)



Helpful Links:

for mom.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/fang/hd_fang.htm

for kids.
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/medieval/art/frangelico.htm

about a fresco.
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/arts/fresco.htm
http://artsmarts4kids.blogspot.com/2007/10/fresco-project.html

a story.
http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=keysor&book=artists5&story=ange


This one might be my favorite:


Transfiguration of Christ, Fra Angelico

do you want an (awesome) ART calendar?!

i just happen to be giving one away. like i do every year. because i love this calendar.

this year, unlike other years, unlike ever before in my life come to think of it, i actually got to go to NYC and SEE the art! in the museum. where it lives. yep, we got to spend two whole days at the Metropolitan Museum of Art! it was definitely top o' the list of places we wanted to visit and it did not disappoint.

ahhh. so much fun.

now to be considered in this drawing, you don't have to be a regular reader of this blog, you don't even have to really do anything in return. you just have to want one. simply enter a comment on any post here at fisher academy's blog BEFORE midnight on 1/1/2015. that way, i'll know you're interested.

i'll do the drawing on new years' day.

oh, and if you're dying to get one of these and wanna increase your chances, new likes on our facebook page during december, will get an extra entry. because that just makes for more fun for some people. :)

OR if you just can't wait and want to be SURE to get one. buy yours now, by clicking HERE.




we love turning the pages of this art calendar every day. it's a page-a-day, so there's a unique piece of art or history for each day of the year. sometimes it's ancient weapons or armor, sometimes it's a painting. it's fun! it comes in handy for discussions about art study, for book of centuries illustrations, and even copywork (my young kids use it to copy the date!).

how might you use yours?

wanna check out past ART calendar giveaways? 

maybe just for old times sake... :)

2013

2012

2011

The girls with their handy-dandy audio devices at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Artist Study: Caravaggio

Some thoughts about Caravaggio...

The way he portrays light is awesome.  In art terms it's called chiaroscuro.  Everything appears to be in shadows, and he portrays bright light to accentuate the part of the painting that he wants to highlight.  I REALLY like this.  However, he has some rather morbid themes and graphic portrayals of death in several of his paintings and some nudity as well (so be careful when browsing online galleries).  I think these themes and even his dark paintings actually demonstrate his somewhat violent temperament.  Click here to read a kid-friendly biography, and another biography here.

"Caravaggio had a noteworthy ability to express in one scene of unsurpassed vividness the passing of a crucial moment."  ~Wikipedia: Caravaggio

Read about Caravaggio in recent times! 
Here's an article about a stolen and then damaged work of art that was purportedly of Caravaggio.
Read here about one of Caravaggio's works that was found after having been lost for 200 years!


Caravaggio's paintings are in the Baroque style.  Here's how National Arts Center (Canada) explain Baroque:

"Baroque art emerged in Europe around 1600 as a reaction against the intricacies of the Mannerist style that had dominated the Late Renaissance. Baroque art was more direct, more realistic and certainly more emotionally intense than Mannerism. The word “baroque” is derived from the Portuguese and Spanish barroco or French baroque, both referring to a rough or imperfect pearl. This movement was characterized by drama and grandeur."

Did you know that Baroque is a label not only for art, but for music as well?  Want some ideas how to integrate studies of both Baroque music and art?  Click here.

Here are some comparisons between two VERY famous Baroque period artists:

• Comparison of Caravaggio and Rembrandt
• The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - Lesson Plan comparing Stomer and Caravaggio
• Another comparison of Caravaggio and Rembrandt

Art Lesson Plans and Activities using Chiaroscuro:


Chiaroscuro Portrait Lesson
Mosaic and Chiaroscuro
The Power of Light and Dark
Mr. Potato Head's a Lesson in Chiaroscuro

See the use of chiaroscuro in photography here! (PDF)

AO Artist Study Selections

Here's a free printable - a (PDF) booklet with the
AO selections as well as a few extras we'll be looking at this term. 

education... a masterpiece.

a CM education is like an Impressionist painting… Up close all the living books might seem a little messy like looking at a lot of individual brush strokes… but leave it to the children and keep on painting… adding more and more strokes (books and ideas and experiences). When the painting is done, they’ll stand back having had relationship with the world around them, making connections between what they’ve read and real life experience… and from that point of view, they’ll be left gazing at a most amazing masterful education…

sketch tuesday: R

Hurry!  If you finish up your sketches early this morning, you could still get them in for this week's sketch tuesday slideshow!  The theme is 'starting with the letter R'.
E-mail your sketches to Barb HERE.

Here are ours:





Obviously, in an ideal world, Barb prefers that we submit our sketches before Monday... but if you're like I was at first and you keep forgetting 'til the last second, well, Barb's so nice! ;)  Just get them in right now, and then next week, maybe you'll remember earlier.  The way I remember now is, I make it a Sunday afternoon {quiet time} suggestion... but today the kids beat me to it and brought it up today before I even had a chance to mention it :)

sketch tuesday: float

I LOVED the theme this week.  Lily pads are one of my FAVORITE floating things EVER.

One of the reasons I love Monet is because he painted lily pads...

One of the reasons I love the botanical garden in Trujillo is because of the lily pads...

and I SO loved making my sketch of lily pads!

I must say that interest has been somewhat waning on the whole sketch tuesday thing, because I refuse to make it a forced thing with my kids.  But this week, the two older boys really spent a good amount of time on theirs... what a worthwhile way to spend a quiet part of the morning!

{check out all the other entries here}

sketch tuesday: roadtrip

Okay, so I know that today is NOT tuesday.  But admittedly, I'm all messed up.  My husband being a missionary/preacher he is always SUPER busy on weekends and so has declared, that Monday being our family day, we will not do school but rather have a break and school Saturdays instead.  Hmmm.  Well that does toss things up a bit.  We are so used to our schedule and the days that correspond neatly to the subjects that we normally tackle on them... and yeah.  We're messed up.

But, my kids feel proud to see their stuff up here on my blog, even if it IS wednesday...  and I thought, here's a chance to remind you all about getting your sketches ready because this time you have 2 weeks to get your sketches ready!  Barb will be taking the week off, but you can send your sketches in any time so start thinking about it now!!  :)

Here's ours from last week:

Go here for more information on next week's theme: Sketch Tuesday: Gone Wild-Everglades

Artist Study: Monet {part four}

This week we did something different and fun for artist study.   Since we've read up quite a bit now on Monet and have a pretty good overall sense of his works (apart from seeing them in person of course!), we decided to have another hands-on lesson.  I think I will call it manual narration...


What we did:
Each person chose their favorite print from our Monet selections.  They were allowed to look, memorizing it, as long as they needed, but once they were ready, they were to turn it over and sketch as well as they could from memory.

Once finished with everything they could remember, they could look back again at their print and fill in the details.  They did a REALLY good job!  I think that one key to success on this is that I joined them in the effort.  I was the first one to set out on the project and the last one to finish.
It was too much fun to pass up!

I took the idea from here :)
"Sometimes we study [the print], and then I ask them to pose as the picture (not doable with landscapes!) sometimes after looking at it intently, I ask them to sketch it, roughly, for me, explaining the main idea is not to duplicate it perfectly but to give the idea of where things are in the painting."  ~Wendi AO Picture Study Page


Helpful Links:
Some of my favorite information I've run across lately online in regard to Picture Study are:
Richele's Art Appreciation - Picture Talks at her blog, Barefoot Voyage
and Picture Talks by Miss K. R. Hammond of the P.N.E.U.
I posted on how we make our prints for artist study HERE.


My artist study posts: Monet
{part one}
{part two}
{part three}

sketch tuesday: desserts

So, here we go again!  Another Sketch Tuesday!!  

Stay tuned because we're working on a Peruvian culture post that we'll post later this week!

Here's a clue... I'm made of wood, a nail and string... I fly spinning through the air... if I miss I might get hit with a machete...

WHO AM I? 

sketch tuesday: airports

My kids are really getting into this... I love it, because it is easy art... no cajoling, no bribery, just kids who want to see their art hung up next to someone else's.  They spend time making something they can be proud of, I scan it and send it off.  It's as simple that.  Hooray for Barb, creator of Sketch Tuesdays!

See the slideshow here