Category: Art

Painting

Last night Richard and the boys went to a minor league baseball game in town. Mark, Paige, and I stayed home. After watching PBS for a while, we pulled out the oil paints. We found these canvases and easels at Walmart. They are tiny, making a painting project less time consuming.

I taught Relief Society today. My topic was “We love life and learning.” All week I have been reflecting about things I have learned which have enriched my life. I will always consider myself a beginner, but painting is good for me because I can make a study of something for a while, savoring small details. Painting has opened my eyes to color, to nature, and to the people I decide to paint.  I didn’t capture little Ruby in the painting, but that’s okay. I learned something, I had fun, and I grew to love her more as I tried to paint her.

Paige has been eying this flower for a long time. I’m glad she decided to do it. I think she did a great job.

Mark’s truck and sun make me happy. He worked very hard on this and mixed his own paints.

Miniature Museum field trip

The miniature museum was an interesting cultural and historical field trip. The museum was full of houses from different eras and countries and one of our favorites was this eighteenth century French mansion.

These paintings are very small replicas, hand painted by the artist.

It made me wish I had a doll house again.

The displays and the tour were interesting. Here is a below-the-floor display with fifties era miniatures.

Here we are celebrating a friend’s birthday at McDonalds. It was a good time with friends.

Oil Painting with the Young Women

I have offered to teach the Young Women at our church for years. I have offered to teach them basically anything, but I have never been called. Finally in January when the sign-up sheet went around church, I listed every fantabulous thing that I can do and then added a few things I don’t do well. I gave each option a fancy name. I am that desperate to be with the youth.

They asked me to teach something I am not so good at. But it was still very fun.

Piano Ensemble 2011

It’s our springtime tradition: a new suit or dress and the big ensemble concert at Centennial Hall. This was Paige and Daniel’s 4th year to participate in this concert.

We invited some friends to join us. Daniel didn’t hang out with us in line because he was with his piano duet partner. Yes, Paige is taller than I am in this picture. We’re both wearing heels. I’m posting this even though I look old.

We saw some Family at the concert! Bryan’s sister was in the concert, too.

Paige and her piano partner played one of the big Steinway concert grand pianos in the front. They played the Liebeslieder Waltz by Johannes Brahms.

Paige is wearing my formal concert skirt with a shimmery silver top from her own closet.

Daniel, always the brave and independent one, went up to the conductor to thank him when it was over. He played the Russian Sailors’ Dance which was just incredible.

We don’t do coloring books


Our house is full of unused coloring books. If I ask one of my sons to color something, I can count on him turning to stone before my eyes, immobile but for the menacing glare directed at me or the offending uncolored paper.

The unused coloring books are a treasure for the friends who come to play. Sometimes I find a stray friend who has made her way into the schoolroom and has surrounded herself with all of the coloring books she intends to use. To the little girl, it’s almost unbelievable that our boys haven’t used them.

My boys are more into using things such as scissors and glue. The picture above is by Daniel.

Eric Carle Art Class

We decided to make Eric Carle style art with the homeschool club today. To prepare, we asked each family to paint 5 pieces of tissue paper with tempera paint, using different textures and color combinations and bring the dry tissues to class. We followed the same techniques that Eric Carle taught during a Mr. Rogers episode. You can see the clip here. (Start at minute 16.)

I have to admit that I was a little worried how it would turn out. The individual tissue papers we made were not very attractive.

Once we got to class, we shared the painted tissue paper to make some wonderful collages.

Hannah’s fruit art was so cute I had to post it. She’s playing at our house so I’m claiming the right to share her beautiful art.

We had dozens of patterns from which we could choose. I came home with a sample of each so I can do my own artwork/therapy this weekend.

Anyone can do this. And it is beautiful and simple and very inexpensive.

Time for Paige

Believe it or not, my worst fear is that I am messing up my children’s lives by educating them at home (and other places). There is no homespun superiority complex being taught or felt at this home school. I run an over-achieving-so-no-one-will-question-us kind of home school.

Sometimes in my efforts to prove we’re providing a great education, I ask too much of my children. High school brought a new level of fear and worry for me and an accompanying workload for Paige that left her exhausted. She stopped doing many things that she loved. There was no reading for fun, no sewing, and no painting.

This semester we made sure Paige isn’t overbooked.  It’s good to see her doing the things that she loves again. She is a great student, but there is more to life than school.

Thank goodness.

Gingerbread 2010

We made graham cracker “gingerbread” houses with Grandma and Grandpa.

These colors are irresistible on Paige’s house. I like the decorative frosting curlicues, the tootsie roll mosaic on the front, and the flawless star she made from a gumdrop on her first try.

Daniel spent time on a wood pile, fence, sparkly snow, and a marshmallow snow house out back for a Boy Scout winter camp.

Timothy has very classic taste. It took a long time to place those sprinkles in a row on the roof. I love the  Lifesaver wreath.

Mark spent a very long time working on his house. He and Grandpa built a Ramada, a very tall “Dr. Seuss” Christmas tree, and scattered sprinkles… many sprinkles. I like the cereal windows and the “M” for Mark.

Our family is held together with royal icing traditions like this.

Nutcracker 2010

This weekend we spent with the Sanchez grandparents. We had many adventures, but the main event was Paige’s Nutcracker performance on Saturday night. She danced as the Dewdrop Fairy in Waltz of the Flowers (above).

She danced in the Snowflake number.

She was also a Chinese dancer.

She was lovely and she was strong. I can’t believe the stamina she showed in the Waltz of the Flowers. I’m so glad she had this opportunity.