Finally!

I love art. Maybe I should re-phrase that - I love creating art. I took a bunch of art history classes in undergrad, but that wasn't my passion. Watercolors, acrylics, charcoal...even just a pad of paper and a pencil...that was all I needed. I used to love to sketch and paint. And I did it all the time in high school and college. I have a huge stack of sketchbooks to prove it.

I don't really do much anymore, but when making the decision to homeschool Anthony, I knew I had to spend some time looking for an art curriculum.

We found a great book that incorporated stories of artists and suggestions for creating artwork according to their styles. But it sat on the shelf. Our schedule was so full with foster care 'stuff' that we just didn't have the time to add it in. Please don't get me wrong...Anthony spent time painting and drawing and building. We explored colors and textures and the like, but it was very informal and nothing new to him.

Well, we are adjusting to our new schedule and with added time, we finally did it! The book came off the shelf and Anthony and I had our first official art lesson of the year.

It was really cool. We learned about Giotto di Bondone, an Italian artist. We learned about how he made his own paint brushes and how he made his own paint from egg yolk and anything else to give it pigment (bugs, fruit, etc.). Then we made our own paint!

It was quite a process, but Anthony was so excited and very proud of his final product. Here are some pictures from our lesson:

Grinding chalk with a large rock we found outside.

After combining an egg yoke with 2 tsp. water, Anthony combined that mixture with the chalk and made his very own paint! 

Giotto used to paint on wood, so Anthony found his wooden tool box and painted the bottom of that:). 

I'm not sure when we'll get to our next lesson, but I'm thankful we had the time to dive into this one today!