November Art a la Carte

Today was Eric's monthly art class called Art a la Carte. As with last year, they scheduled the art classes too late for me to be able to go to last month's art class, but I was able to switch days off with my office mate so that I could be there for art class today. This first photo is of Eric in the process of painting his artwork. Just look at how hard he is concentrating on his work.

Interestingly, where there was often only me volunteering last year, there were four parents there volunteering today. One was one of the Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students), so he seemed to be there just for fun. He ended up sitting down at an empty seat and following along with the class instruction to make his own painting.

The art teacher started talking about Leonardo Da Vinci and how he was the ultimate Renaissance man, dabbling in lots of things, such as both art and science. She talked about emphasis in art, where the artist calls attention to a focal point using something to emphasize that focal point. She showed painting of the Last Supper where the lines purposely lead up to Jesus Christ and how use of colors can play a part in emphasizing the focal point. She showed several photos of cardinals and their bright red color. Her example painting shown in this photo uses emphasis based on size (the larger cardinal) as well as color.

This is Eric's finished painting. They started by sketching out their cardinals. The kids chose whether they wanted a landscape or portrait orientation and where they wanted the birds placed, whether they would be one behind the other or next to each other. After sketching that out, they then used a cotton ball that had been dipped in water and then blue acrylic paint, that was then used to "wash" the background. Next, they used acrylic paint to first paint the red of the birds, then the brown branches, then the details such as the black on the birds' face and orange of the birds' beak. The art teacher is very good at explaining to these young children how to create their own masterpiece.

One of the moms that volunteered was going around helping some of the kids by doing some actual painting. I don't understand that at all. They weren't even her kids. I'm pretty hands off when I volunteer. Originally I felt that I needed to help Eric to make his art more realistic, but he enjoys doing his own thing so much and he doesn't want my help at all, so I just encourage and praise. I do the same with the other kids. I learn a lot from the art teacher during this class every month, and I also learn from the kids. I'm already looking forward to next month.