by Julie | Art, Art Education, Classical Conversations, Homeschool, Podcast
Deanna & Julie discuss Jim Davis, the creator of Garfield. Who is he? What is his art like? Why should we study him? Join us as we chat about the genre of comics, cartoons, and graphic novels and discover some great reasons to study Jim Davis and his memorable...
by Julie | Art, Art Education, Classical Conversations, Homeschool
On week 18 in Classical Conversations (CC), we have a little fun looking at cartoons and American cartoonist, Jim Davis. The students always love looking at cartoons. However, I’ve historically been more fascinated Jim Davis’ business savviness as...
by Julie | Art, Art Education, Classical Conversations, Homeschool
Andrew Wyeth’s paintings carry a contemplative depth to them that is characteristic of his work. He usually used a very limited and sometimes muddy / muted color pallet, achieving incredible emotion. This is not the shock of an Andy Warhol painting, but a more...
by Julie | Art, Art Education, Classical Conversations, Homeschool
O’Keefe painted an incredibly wide variety of subjects. She is best known for her large paintings of flowers, but she also painted landscapes, bones, and abstract images. Many of her biographies focus on the sexual interpretations of her paintings, but...
by Julie | Art, Art Education
Rockwell’s art is fun and often comical. It’s full of childhood mischief and American icons. It makes us smile and leaves us longing for the “good ol’ days.” So, I was surprised when I started reading biographies about Norman Rockwell...
by Julie | Art, Art Education, Classical Conversations, Homeschool
Can I make a confession right from the start? I’ve never really loved Grandma Moses’ art. The lack of accuracy on perspective and proportion gives me a little twitch every time I see it. (There, I said it. My mother is surely shaking her head now.) Even...
by Julie | Art, Art Education, Homeschool, Inspiration, Personal
Over the last few weeks I’ve been working on creating the Amazing American Artist lesson plans, which we’ll be using in our homeschool community in January. Each lesson plan is a combination of a artist biography and art project instructions. When I create...
by Julie | Art, Art Education, Classical Conversations, Homeschool
In the 6th week of each year, we have a final drawing project to finish our six-week fine arts unit on drawing. This coming year (Classical Conversations, Cycle 3) we’ll be making an altered version of Grant Wood’s American Gothic. Even if you don’t...
by Julie | Art, Art Education, Classical Conversations, Homeschool, Products
In our Classical Conversations Foundations community, we study anatomy in cycle 3. As part of our anatomy unit, we have a fun experiment we do the very first week in science where we create an optical illusion. This makes cycle 3 a great opportunity to include some...
by Julie | Art, Art Education, Classical Conversations, Homeschool
In week 4 of our homeschool community we’ll be doing an abstract art project. Did you know some of the earliest examples of abstract art we know of are from the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) in China? Of course, in the western world, abstract art really gained...
by Julie | Art, Art Education, Classical Conversations, Homeschool
Between Columbus, the Mayflower and the Boston Tea Party, I feel like Classical Conversations’ Cycle three, which includes American History, is a great time to draw an old ship! Plus, I really love the old ships. As an aside, there’s a great little...
by Julie | Art, Art Education, Classical Conversations, Homeschool
I’m excited to start another year in our homeschool community learning about the fundamentals of drawing. We’ll start week 1 working with basic shapes. Understanding how to see something as a collection of its basic shapes is a fundamental skill when...
