L13 is currently working her way through a simple study of the great artists. She studies one artist per week and her goal is to learn one new technique with each study. A couple of weeks ago she studied Edward Hicks using the excellent and free art lessons from Concordia University:
I downloaded the lesson, which she then read and discussed the questions with me. Each lesson is only two pages long. The first page tells of the history of the artist in question:
The second page describes his art, the techniques he uses and contains questions which prompt the student to dig a little deeper:
This last page also contains up to twenty ideas for the student to choose from in order to create their own art. L may or may not choose from this list. Whilst chatting through the questions together I could tell she wasn’t overly enamoured by Hick’s art, and as she read through the extension activities none of them appealed.
I suggested she look through a few of his other paintings and maybe choose a smaller area to focus her study on. The painting which she was drawn to was ‘The Peaceable Kingdom’:
She chose to focus on the tiger at the front:
We talked about how Hicks uses different colours in the tiger’s spots which work to give depth and shading to the tiger. It was this she was meant to focus on and learn from. Alas, I think everything went out of her mind as she struggled with the oil paint, and creating a realistic backdrop on top of which she would be painting the tiger. I think by the time she got to the tiger she just wanted to finish it. But you know what? She may have forgotten the focus of her study but I was still pleased with her attempts to replicate Hicks’ work. Last year she would have said herself that she was not a good enough artist to draw and paint, but I think one just keeps improving by practicing. She did a great job, at a topic which hadn’t drawn her in. I was just pleased she finished it 🙂 Here is her final piece:
And up close:
L’s next study will be on Sir Joshua Reynolds, focusing on ‘A Strawberry Girl’
Wow! I’m so enjoying following L’s progress. She’s creating such beautiful pieces. 🙂 Well done!
Thanks Lucinda. I shall let her know 🙂
I have been thinking about incorporating those art lessons with our homeschool next year. I think sje did a beautiful job. She is a talented artist.
Thank you Phyllis. I think she shows how much improvement can happen simply through practice.
Lovely L! What a fantastic course.
Thanks Barbara! It’s a course well worth pursuing and it’s free!
I think she did a great job, it’s a beautiful painting.
Thank you, I shall let her know you said so 🙂
Most excellent, L. You did a fantastic job.
I’ll tell her, Donna. Thank you so much 🙂
I seem to remember commenting here, but now I’m not seeing it.
Oh well, I’m quite impressed, and know the feeling of trying so hard to get a project just right and just wanting to be done.
I am a homeschool teacher of my 13 year old daughter and very interested in the resources you used. Can you share how to access the free art resources from Concordia University? Thanks so much!
Hi Siam,
I have just spent the last hour crawling the web looking for the link. Every link I find takes me to a page which no longer exists. It may be that they do not offer the lessons any more. I have a few on my blog which I have included the print outs that went with the lessons – perhaps you could enlarge those and print them off. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help. Here are the links to my posts should they be of any use:
https://angelicscalliwags.com/simple-art-study-norman-rockwell/
https://angelicscalliwags.com/simple-art-study-reynolds/
https://angelicscalliwags.com/simple-art-study-hicks/
https://angelicscalliwags.com/a-simple-cezanne-art-study/