BookShelf Central: Artistic Pursuits

 

Artistic Pursuits:

BookShelf Central "is a one stop shopping for homeschooling with Tapestry of Grace." The site provides one with books that may be implemented with the curriculum. Artistic Pursuits is one of the books used with T.O.G.year 2 unit 2. This book is geared towards children in grades K-3 and the cost is $42.30. It features Gothic, Renaissance, and Academy Art of the 18th Century. Artistic Pursuits provides colorful illustrations and prints that depict the artist's life and work. The 32 lessons with projects provided by the workbook use art supplies one would already own. For example, the supplies are watercolor, tempera, oil pastels, sculpture, and mixed media. If you do not have the supplies, a trip to the hobby store will be in the near future. If this is not an option, Bookshelf Central can special order the supplies for you.

 

Bookshelf Central
1133 North Eastman Rd.
Kingsport, TN 37664
USA

David@BookshelfCentral.com
 

 

 

 

 

 My Experience:

 

Since this school year my 6 year old daughter is learning about the 1800's, I decided to introduce her to Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) and Jean -Francois Millet (1814-1875). The workbook Artistic Pursuits includes stories and the art of these two painters. In Project 29 Rubbings, my daughter was shown how to create texture in her picture. Turner was known for creating texture in his art work."He began to make paintings with heavy layers and texture in order to show wind, rain, and steam" He was also recognized for painting ships, steam locomotives, and sunsets. My daughter drew a picture of a church and added texture to the building. She place a sheet of drawing paper over a group of quarters. She then rubbed the paint onto the piece of paper. Aluminum was another texture she experimented with. In Lesson 30, there was a painting of the artist and a few questions for the student to answer in order to engage her in the conversation. "The Fighting Temeraire" was the painting we discussed. She loved looking at the picture of the painting and discussing the colors used by the artist. Another activity she enjoyed completing was Project 30: Mixed Media. With this particular assignment, she layered tissue paper in order to create a colorful and hazy affect. My daughter glued and layered the tissue paper onto construction paper, waited until it dried, and then she cut out a light house and glued it onto the tissue paper. 

Millet enjoyed painting the countryside of France. He used water color resist painting and techniques such as stand-up sponge painting. In Lesson 31, my daughter learned how to set up a painting area. She used water colors to create her master piece. "The Gleaners" by Millet, was one of his painting pictured for lesson 32. Millet painted people that he knew when he was a child. "This painting shows some of the poorest workers he knew." On the bottom of the page were questions pertaining to the painting? The questions helped my daughter engage in the conversation. For lesson 32 Stand-up Sponge Painting, my daughter drew a scene of the out doors and then drew objects onto construction paper. With a sponge she added foliage and leaves to the objections on the construction paper. Once everything was dry, she cut out the objects, folded the bottom edge, and glued it onto the base. She created a stand-up sponge painting. 

Layered Tissue Paper
Light House and Boat

Pop-Up Art
Girl and Trees

Overall Thoughts:

BookShelf Central made it really easy for me to find the books I needed. The selections were broken down into Year Plan, Units, Levels, Subjects, and List. All I had to do was click on the desired option and the books would be down loaded. My daughter and I really enjoyed using the work book Artistic Pursuits. We enjoyed learning about the artists and looking at pictures of their incredible pieces of work. Imitating some of the techniques used by these individuals was so much fun. We learned how to make a watercolor resist, use tissue paper to create a certain affect, texture, and stand-up sponge painting. Artistic Pursuits gave us the opportunity to not only learn about artists from a certain era but also use techniques that they utilized to create their master pieces. "What a great way to learn about the lives of artists that inspired generations!" We really loved completing the activities together and we would recommend it.

I have received this product free of charge for review purposes.