Honey's Art Institute Art Show

I am so blessed. I was given the great honor of teaching my two oldest grandsons, Owen and Clay Art this year. Zach and Meg home school their kids and last August they asked me if I would consider teaching Art to them the 2011/2012 school year. Okay, I have to admit when I first heard "Art" I thought..."Crafts"and if you know me at all...you know how much I love to do crafts. Then very quickly it was explained how much the boys had enjoyed the subject of Art last year at Co-Op and I realized we were talking a little more than doing crafts. :) So my brain was forced into high gear. If I was going to be responsible for a "real" subject, I wanted to make sure that the boys learned a lot about art elements and artists. I quickly learned that the Internet and Pinterest would become my best friends. What a wealth of information. My library card also has gotten lots of use this year. We started at the very beginning learning all about the color wheel and then about all the different elements of art. After Christmas break, we begin our study of famous artists. Wow, so many to pick from and we barely touched the list but we moved slowly through a few and tried to not only learn about the artist as a person but also their "style" of art.  It has been so fun and has really stretched me to try to stay one step ahead of them...which I realized very quickly can be challenging! They are smart little guys! We met each Tuesday morning for several hours and I was amazed at much these little guys learned. They are quite the little artist. Their sweet Aunt Ashley (Or Aunt Ally to them) came in on two different occasions and served as our guest art teacher, a big treat for them. Another unexpected gift has been how much Larry has enjoyed learning along beside me about the artists I would be teaching about that week. It has been so wonderful to see Owen and Clay's ability grow and mature throughout this year. We decided early on to celebrate our year of hard work we would end the year with their very own "Art Show". It has been a fun year filled with many precious memories for this Honey! So, welcome to "Honey's Art Institute First Art Show"!

Here is the adorable invitation that Aunt Ashley designed for me. If you need any type of invitation, please consider Ashley! She has a little business where she will be happy to design adorable custom "whatever you need" creations! Here is a link to her site: http://snowbirddesign.blogspot.com

Our Two VERY excited artist---Clay and Owen

 This isn't the best photography, sorry, but I just wanted you to see them.

On the very first day of class, I had each boy draw themselves. Then on the last day of classes we repeated the process. I do believe they both learned a little bit about proportion, detailing, etc!

Above is Clay's first and last self portrait

 Owen's self portrait on the first day of class

Owen's self portrait on the last day of class!

Here is a "sampling" of some of their pieces during the time we were learning about the use of colors and using different types of mediums of art.

Then comes my very favorites! Once we started studying art, we would pick several of our favorite pieces the artist had done and try our hand at it! All I have to say, is these artists just might have some competition! 

 Picasso

 Their version of a "funny face" Picasso

A study of Jim Dine's many heart paintings

Van Gogh-Ashley taught this lesson...I think they are amazing!!! My favorite of the year!

Next artist study...Monet

Then we spent several weeks on Andy Warhol

Another favorite of mine...Kandinsky. They boys got to pick they type of medium they wanted to use so Clay's is done with pastels and Owen picked watercolor. I love how different they look!

I also love these...we studied how to do a reflection...I think their first attempts were great!!!!

(It is a cheaters way of doing it but it gave them the idea of how to mirror a painting!)

Finally, what would any art show,

especially if the Knights are involved would be complete without some refreshments! 

Meg, being our very special "room mother" was put in charge of the refreshment table.

She really outdid herself!!! Plus, I cannot describe how excited the boys were about all the special things she did. I think it made them feel very "important". 

I loved the rice krispies "paint brushes" she made...dipped in "icing paint". Really cute and yummy!

Thank you Meg. It was such an awesome treat for our show.

 Side note: Art teacher Honey thinks these might be the best paints she has ever seen or tasted! 

 Owen and Clay:

Thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to teach you Art this year.

You have been amazing students who have inspired me to learn and have proven to me that you both have some very strong artistic talents! God has filled you with so many wonderful traits!

I have loved our weekly time together.

Zach and Meg:

Thank you for entrusting me with your boys Art Education! What a joy they have been. The first few weeks I really stressed with them the importance of complimented each other works, never laughing at what each other did and for being able to always come up with something positive to say about what they did and what each other did. They amazed me each week with all the kind words and compliments they would give each other.

We also learned to never say "I can't" but to always say "I will try my best"!

I think they proved their best is quite good!

Love you boys!