Tag: artwork

family

Try Again

Andi

I did this peacock during my friend’s and mine weekly group painting, but I hated it. The first one looked so terrible. I didn’t finish it, I just threw it away.

I stopped to think about why it looked so awful, and evaluated why I disliked it so greatly. The colors were unclear and muddled together and looked like poo. What causes that? Well maybe it was my ridiculously old brushes that weren’t even designed for watercolor being too thick and wide to make the clear lines. I was unable to make the project look correct. So I went and got a new set of brushes. I also considered that my paints were getting used and running low. Perhaps they needed to also be replaced. So i also purchased a new set of paints.

New paper. Start over. The second one came out significantly better than the first. I can stand to look at this one. It could still be better, but that will be on a different day with different paper.

When you mess up, don’t throw your hands up and give up. Look at why you made a mistake, analyze how you could improve. What would make this project move more smoothly? Once you’ve done that, correct your errors. Make those changes. And then try again. If its still wrong, go back and try again. Don’t stop, keep changing things.. Keep making corrections until you get it right.

family

Beading with Children

Andi

Beading seems overly simple. Just string a round piece of plastic/wood/clay with a hole in the middle onto a string. Easy right? It is, but it is also wildly educational. How is something so simple teaching anything? Well, most of what it teaches is developmental.

Beading aides in developing hand eye coordination, bilateral coordination (using both hands to do different tasks at the same time) and dexterity. They have to focus and carefully place the bead on the string. If they start having trouble, it can become a learning opportunity on patience and perseverance. Beading also gives them a sense of accomplishment at creating something themselves, which fuels imagination. In connection with that it can strengthen their planning and execution skills. Letting them lay out and design a pattern they like and then putting that plan to action to make something.

But beading can also be used in a more traditional teaching sense. Having the child count their beads can teach them numbers and counting in order. It could be used to teach pattern recognition and sequences. You could use beads to teach colors.

There are so many possibilities with beading. Get creative with it. Let them get creative with it.

Use beading as a way to be a light in someone’s life. Make several bracelets to give to friends, grandparents, the kind old lady in the grocery store who always says hi to you.

Beads and string are fairly inexpensive, but the activities they can create and lessons they can teach are immeasurable.

Art, family

The Last Supper Table and Chairs

Andi

A local museum had a room full of art pieces donated by local citizens. Some work they’d done themselves and some that had been passed down in their families. This table and chairs drew my attention and it fascinated me.

It depicts the Last supper in the middle of the table, and there are twelve chairs each depicting a different disciple. I did not notice at the time, but the chair for Judas is carved differently from all the rest as he was the one who betrayed Jesus. It is of course carved and it was quite large. This quick summary laid there with the piece shared the artists history.

I find it incredibly intriguing how various religions have effected the cultures in which they are prominent. Art is one of the plainest places to see these effects, as religious artwork is prolific.

Something else I find interesting about this artwork in particular is the rarity of it. Not because tables are rare or because this artist took 12 years to carve it, but because of the unique idea of it. Who thinks of the Last Supper and thinks, I can make that into a table and chairs. It’s so odd, but delightful.

I enjoyed this part of the museum because of the unique and fascinating nature of it. It was neat to see all these different pieces by or from local residents. But this table, by far, stood out the most.