Picture study

Okay, I just did some great planning for picture studies that I thought I'd share. It is really simple, but has helped me get my head around things and maybe it will help you. I first got the idea for a picture study from Charlotte Mason's writings and various websites promoting Charlotte Mason's approach to education. I am very fond of Charlotte Mason's approach to education. One of the subjects Charlotte promoted was picture study. As someone who knows very little about paintings and drawings and artists who produced famous works, I thought this was important for my children to learn to appreciate (and me at the same time!).

OUTCOMES

1. To recognise that artists have his/her own style.
2. To enjoy looking at artwork or be able to appreciate the artist's talent.
3. To be able to identify an artist through his/her work.

METHOD
(some of the ideas below came from this article on the Homeschool World website).

• This method is targeted to an audience aged 5-11.
• Pick one artist to study for a few weeks.
• Look at only one picture per session.
• Talk very briefly about the artist. Keeping the information very simple like, the name of the artist, where they lived and when.
• Showing the child the picture and asking them to look at it for a few minutes.
• Asking the child to talk about the picture. What do they see? How does it make them feel? What colours are they using? As the child gets older I would remove the picture and ask them to describe it, or draw what they remember of it.
• Potential activity (I will treat this activity as purely optional at each session): Child can reproduce the artwork, or how the artwork makes them feel in their own way somehow. Ie, painting, drawing, craft, pasting.

RESOURCES

• Pictures will be found mostly online.
• Library might be good after we have studied the one artist for a few weeks so we can see multiple works in one (different) setting to bring it all together.
• A trip to the art museum.

ARTISTS TO STUDY

• Claude Monet (I plan to start with this one because I think it will appeal to Sunshine).
• Thomas Kinkade (we love his paintings so much, I must, must, must introduce him soon!).
• The four ninja turtles, Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo and Donatello (because it will be good for me to be able to distinguish each of their styles too).
• Rembrandt van Rijn
• Pablo Picasso (not a fan myself, but it will be good to show Sunshine how different artists can be).

... and that should keep us busy for the next nine months or so! I have a few more suggested artists on my list but I would like to look into them first before I officially put them on the list.