I was impressed!

Had to share. My kids aren't big on drawing so I was really surprised at last art class when Alex spent more time drawing than socializing. Not too shabby!

Masks

...from Art Class!

Woohoo! Art Class is Back :-)

With art class comes comic relief...at least where Alex is concerned. Last year he started with a self portrait that looked like a person who had been shot in the head. This year his portrait is another classic. Granted, he is a year older and more, er, less mature. May I introduce Butt Man!



My favourite part of class was when he looked over at his buddy Q's work (a very talented child with a pretty fantastic dinosaur) and said, "Hey Q, that is really great. It is almost as good as mine!", LOL!

Here is Izzy's. I helped. Can you tell? Ha! The child was refusing to do any work and I had just paid for her to take this one single class. (It is normally during school hours but this staggered entrance left today open.) I said I had paid for the materials and we were taking something home to put on the wall. I'm such a good mommy ;-)

Last Art Project

We are finished art class at the Gallery. I'll set up more classes next year. Everyone loves it. Here are the kids last watercolour drawings. They use the crayons and then paint with wet brush over top. I haven't seen Alex use this much colour and detail ever!

Masks!

The kids made masks in art class and wanted to show them off. I can't say enough about this class. We love the teacher. We love the projects she comes up with. Definitely one of our best homeschooling experiences.

Projects!

We've had quite a few on the go these days. I have a ton of ideas for Alex but Izzy is a bit pickier in what she will and will not cooperate with. Since we are getting ready for JK her projects involve a lot of cutting and gluing. Such as the collage of favourite foods she cut from various flyers. She loves to cut up pieces of paper. Hand the girl some scissors and glue and I've got a few hours to kill on my hands.
They both are working on books, with the help of some print-outs from enchantedlearning.com. I bought a one year subscription because the site is loaded with tons of activities. Alex has been introduced to crossword puzzles and word searches through this site and now I have a ton at my disposal.

Art

I love art class. What a difference a few months make. Especially where Izzy is concerned. At this age, they mature some skills almost overnight and I sometimes wonder where this little girl came from. Izzy has come a long way in art class. A few weeks back the kids did clay sculptures and Izzy's cat is so good most people don't think she actually did it. She listens well to the teacher this time around and takes her work very seriously. She takes her time and seems to enjoy the process.

Alex is still the same. He is the first kid to speak when a question is asked. He would rather socialize with the other kids. The teacher laughed when, once again, while painting Alex mixed all his colours together to see what he could come up with. Always this dark brown mess that the art teacher suggested he name as the colour Alex. It is funny to watch him. He doesn't dislike art class. He just would rather take more tangible things and put them together in some way. He loves Lego. He loves science experiments. He loves building things and discovering how things work. How to change things from one state to another. Taking a blank canvas and creating something one dimensional isn't his idea of a lot of fun.


Once again though, Alex made us proud...unintentionally. His rocket ship amused me to no end and I couldn't wait for Rob to see it. I was not disappointed! Rob got a hearty laugh out of it and then the inappropriate jokes started flying. His rocket has a distinctly phallic shape to it and the base of the ship had this spaghetti effect (by using a garlic press most kids used to make hair for their sculptures) that is meant to be jet vapours or fire burning out from the rocket boosters. Either way, it looks a little suspect. He'll get a kick out of this when he's all grown up, I'm sure.

Alex's first comic...

Can you tell this kid loves comic books? This is his first unprompted attempt at story writing and its a comic. I love it. The only thing he usually draws are pictures of Izzy in a circle with a big line crossed through it. I find them everywhere, taped to his bedroom door or on the baby gate at the top of the stairs. Lots of fun! He is a big fan of shortcuts and using symbols or signs to get his point across. Right now he prefers drawing a heart next to his name, rather than writing Love Alex. I showed him how to do a sideways heart with the keyboard <3 and it was the highlight of his day.

It was just refreshing to see him doing something creative (that wasn't Lego) today although Rob is pretty convinced the circular machine shooting at him is one of those robots from Star Wars that rolls and has a force field. He told Rob it was called a Death Ball. We joked at dinner that Alex was turning into a well-rounded geek. Loves Lego, Star Wars, video games and now writes comic books. Too bad there isn't a Lego, Star Wars math program out there. We'd really be set then!

...because it's funny

I think this is fundamentally why Rob and I are so compatible. We have the same appreciation for all things twisted and bizarre. Though completely unintentional, Alex offered up something morbidly funny...and his parents couldn't have been more amused.

The theme in art class this week was portraits. The teacher gave the class a great lesson on how to draw a human face. Heck, I learned a lot. The kids were given water-colour crayons that you brush with water after you finish drawing. Alex decided that his person should have red skin. He started colouring in the face, between the eyes, and then lost interest pretty quickly. Before I knew it, he declared it was finished.

He hasn't quite figured out why all the adults laugh when they see the painting. Thankfully he is still innocent enough not to realize that he painted something that can be construed as a person who met up with a quick and terrible demise.

What can I say, Rob and I couldn't be prouder. Is that wrong? LOL!

It's a Tree in Autumn!

That is what our neighbour declared after looking at Alex's painting. Actually, I said to her, he decided it was a tornado...at the suggestion of a fellow student that morning. Alex didn't have anything particular in mind but was open to ideas as to what it might be - after the fact. Izzy was very proud of her swirls and is looking for the right place for us to hang it. She has no need to label her efforts with anything as insignificant as a title, much less worry about subject matter. They were both very happy with their results, and really, that's all that matters to me.

Not the best start!

Last week the kids were a little off, health-wise. Odd bouts of lethargy and short run fevers. We had hoped it was all behind us but, of course, that would be too easy. After a lovely weekend away at a family wedding (complete with hotel stay - always a favorite with the kids, especially when there are two doors into the bathroom leading to endless circular chases) a cold came rearing its ugly head. Sure enough, the night before our first homeschool art class at the gallery, Alex is in rough shape. We wound up going. By the time it we were piling into the car Alex was a bit better. He and I had an agreement that we wouldn't decide if he would stay in the class until we actually got there and assessed how he felt. I wanted to go to pay for our spots and, hopefully, drop Izzy off with her friends if I couldn't stay with Alex. I also organized the whole affair and didn't want to be a complete no-show. Needless to say he rallied a bit by the time we arrived. We did opt out of the park picnic lunch afterwards with friends. Back to bed for the big guy.

The class was a hit. I really liked the teacher. The kids (about 14 of them) were very well behaved. I always chuckle when I see homeschooled kids raise their hands when asked questions. I wonder where they picked that up. Yesterday they painted landscapes. Well, my kids didn't paint landscapes but the others mostly did, lol. Izzy prefers to mix all her paints into one colour and just swirl in on her canvas. Alex isn't really artistic (rarely picks up markers or paint without being prompted to) but enjoyed starting a landscape. Half way through it didn't resemble anything so he gave up and just started doing abstract swirls like his sister.

Artists we are not. Though we appreciate the efforts of others. Alex made his way around the room, positively critiquing everyone's work. Next week will be sculpting with clay. This should be very interesting.