A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Art Series

Art is Life

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Free Product received from Raincoast books for my review.  Affiliate links will be used in this review.  No added cost to you, but it does help pay the bills.  🙂 

Art is Life tells the story of the life of artist Keith Haring.  A vibrant active man with a huge love for art and the expression of it.  This is a picture book that helps to tell part of his story.   Come see!

art is life

48 pages round-out this art biography of Keith Haring.   Keith believed that art is life, and life is art, and he wanted everyone to experience the joy of it.  Author Tami Lewis Brown helped us see his vibrancy and drive to do art.   Illustrator Keith Negley brought that vibrancy and drive to life!   We got to see Keith’s work brought to the forefront while Mr. Negley helped us see him live his life. Thoughtfully produced for 4-7 year olds by Farrar Straus Giroux.

My Review of Art is Life is on behalf of Raincoast Books. 

Every artist portrays the world that he sees differently.  Keith started from the time he was young, showing his view of the world in bright colours and bold lines. 

art is life

You’ll find the font an excellent size for reading with a child at your side, or to a group of children gathered in close.  Wouldn’t it be fun to read it and then have children practice doing art like Keith?   

Throughout the pages of Art is Life you’ll find references to Keith’s desire to share art with the world.   In some ways, it makes the rest of the book seem less bright.  In reality though, the artwork throughout compliments nicely.   One can see the darkness of the subway, the lightness of chalk on dark panels.  Children also learn that sometimes… doing art without permission has consequences. 

Should you get Art is Life?

I always like, when I’m reviewing a biographical picture book, when the author includes a fuller biography of the individual.  In doing so, a fuller presentation of the individual is given.  This book left me with the complete picture.  

The author and illustrator did an excellent job of conveying the enthusiasm that Keith Haring had for life.  Everything he did showed how much he wanted others to enjoy art as well.  If you want to inspire the love of sharing art with others, Keith Haring’s story will do that!  

This book would be great as part of a series on artists, what drives their passions, and how they inspired others. The harder details about Keith Haring’s life are explained in the author’s note. 

Would you like a quick intro to Keith Haring?   I found this youtube video on him. 

Winnie’s Picks

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Oh!  I need to tell you about this lovely paint-by-number windmill painting that I am reviewing on behalf of Winnie’s Picks.  What a marvellous piece of work, a wonderful way to entertain myself, while creating a masterpiece!  Let me tell you all about it!

winnie's Picks

What I am Reviewing

I am reviewing “The water-mill of my youth“, which is one of several painting available from Winnie’s Picks.  They sell a number of fabulous paint-by-number canvases that are excellent quality and fun to do.   These are not the dollar store paint-by-number paintings of your youth.   These are a high quality, solid paintings meant to delight adults. 

They sell on average for $25.95 USD without a frame.  You can design custom orders as well as buy with a frame.  Winnie’s Picks sells paintings in seven categories: 

  • Easy Kits
  • Paintings with a Frame
  • Famous Paintings
  • Flowers
  • Animal Kingdom
  • Landscapes
  • Vintage

Winnie’s Picks, details

My kit arrived much quicker than I expected after ordering.   The tube arrived with a bit of shipping damage but this damage didn’t affect the contents.  Nothing was missing, and the canvas, paint brushes and paints were in excellent condition. 

winnie's picks

Everything came tightly rolled.  The canvas was rolled number side in, and the paints and brushes came wrapped in plastic. 

winnie's picks shipping results

The acrylic paints came with big numbers so you can easily tell which is which.  You will note duplicates of paints that are used more often.  Each paint container opens easily and reseals well. 

The brushes have a good variety in tips and you will find them useful in filling larger areas quickly and tight spots easily. 

Areas that are carefully delineated, with fine detail.  It might look intimidating at first, but just take your time and have fun.  

How was the kit to work with?

Before you start you will want to lay out your canvas and let it settle after being in the tube all rolled up.   You might want to tack it down.

winnie's picks

The paints are smooth and have good coverage.  A few needed a couple of drops of water to thin them out a bit.  The brushes work smoothly and are great to work with. 

I am happy with how the painting is coming along. The paints are smooth and have good coverage. There are a few that I have added drops of water to thin them out a bit. The brushes are great.

I am really enjoying it.  It is so much fun watching the waterfall and windmill come to life right before my eyes.  I find that it is so relaxing to do every week. 

winnie's picks

It is really enjoyed applying the paints.  My only concern is that sometimes for the white areas I need to cover up the number by painting it twice.  But the brushes are smooth and the paint goes on easily. 

winnie's picks, the windmill of my youth

I was really hoping to get it completely done before I posted my review but I have a bit too do yet.  Isn’t it looking good? I am so looking forward to getting it all done and then finding just the right frame for it.  It’ll look great hung on a wall won’t it?

Should you Get Winnie’s Picks?

YES!

I am very tempted to order this one.  Isn’t it a cool looking cat?  Makes me think of my Miss Lizzie with that intense stare.

But seriously, with the great paintbrushes, smooth paints, and the variety that you can do, don’t you think you’d have fun doing them?  Large paintings done in detail on a real canvas backing that you can frame afterwards.  Not just done in a couple of hours, but take a few hours to complete each week.  Such a lovely use of time!  🙂 

Winnie’s Picks have just launched their new collection.  Collaborating with American artists to promote their work and give the opportunity to everyone to try them out. 

Review: Beyond the Stick Figure Art School

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DISCLAIMER: I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS PRODUCT THROUGH THE HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW IN EXCHANGE FOR MY HONEST REVIEW. I WAS NOT REQUIRED TO WRITE A POSITIVE REVIEW NOR WAS I COMPENSATED IN ANY OTHER WAY.

For the past few weeks I have been reviewing Beyond the Stick Figure Art School.  I have been working my way through Sally’s Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course PLUS 3 Bonus Courses.  As I told my bosses at the Homeschool Review Crew… if she can teach ME to draw, she’ll have done good!  Let me say this… I just might surprise you!  Come along as I walk you through this review.

Beyond the Stick Figure Art School Review

What I am Reviewing

Beyond the Stick Figure will provide you with 55 drawing lessons, 15 pen and ink lessons, 52 lessons in watercolour and 24 lessons in Acrylic.   On top of all these lessons you will receive 30 lessons in 3D Design.

This course is for the entire family from 5-95!

Each lesson includes video, often at least one worksheet and lots of practice time. 

Included is a list of materials to help you make purchasing decisions.  For some of the classes having top quality materials will help your work come out better.  For other classes, just use what you have a hand and make accommodations for your expectations. 

logo beyond stick figure

About the Designer

Sally, the designer for this course, is a homeschooling parent!  She received a degree in art from the Loughborough College of Art and Design in England.  You can hear her English accent in the videos.  🙂 

sally beyond stick figures

The Details for Beyond the Stick Figure Art School

There are four parts to the Beyond the Stick Figure Art School.  The main part is the drawing course.  Then the three bonus courses.

The drawing course has three parts to it.  Part one (17 lessons) Part two (33 Lessons) and Part three (5 lessons).   The set up is the same for each lesson.  A video (sometimes two) along with a worksheet to print off. 

Then there are the three bonus courses.  

The Pen & Ink along with the Watercolour Course.  Pen & Ink has two parts with 15 topics total.  The Watercolour course has part 1 (10 lessons), part 2 (19 lessons) and part 3 (23 lessons).  

The Acrylic course follows with 24 Lessons divided over three days.  The 3D course gives us 30 Lessons divided over three days. 

The three days can be a bit of a misnomer since some of the lessons are quite quick, other lessons require practice time, and yet other lessons need time for the previous lesson to dry.   Completing multiple lessons in one day is quite possible. 

parts of course

Step by incremental step, Sally walks you through the world of art.  Each lesson contains at least one video where Sally explains each step and often includes hints.  These hints are there to help you develop better habits as an artist. Sally works hard to ensure the success of her students. 

Video and worksheet location

The worksheets open as printable PDF’s.  Same window unless you ask it to open in a new window.  Everyone that I opened was one page in length, and they did not each need to be printed off.  

warning to complete

One of the aspect of the Art School that it took a while for me to adjust to was the need to mark each lesson, and then each day as complete.   If you failed to do so you would get this warning reminding you to do so. 

seeing lesson overview

I loved that as I watched each lesson I could see clearly where I was in each days work. It gave me a goal to work toward.

How Did I use it?

The drawing course wasn’t quite what I expected. I expect lessons where I would learn shading, perspective, and a variety of other aspects of drawing.  What I received were numerous lessons in how to draw specific lines, and then how to colour them in. I understand it was a very incremental process that as an adult reviewer I found myself chafing at.   I do like that even I managed to create art!  🙂 

drawing course beyond the stick figure

Water Colour

I looked at the Pen & Ink course and thought “OH COOL”, but then decided that I’d rather move on to the Watercolour portion.  I’ve done a bit of watercolour in the past but have never really received lessons. I really liked that I learned new skills, how to make grasses, and use the side of a paintbrush, and more skills.  Rather neat! I look forward to completing the rest of the lessons. 

watercolour

Acrylics

My favourite part of the course?  ACRYLICS.  I was shocked!  Seriously.  I admittedly didn’t have the materials that would have served me best.  Living in Canada, and dealing with Covid-19 restrictions and the um… rather LARGE prices for items on Amazon had me making do with the products that I had in the house.   Afterall.. what if I hated acrylics.. what a waste of dollars that would have been.  But I LIKE IT! I plan to do more.   Just look at what I created!

acrylic paintings

I do need to explain the bottom painting.   It was supposed to be a cloud painting and that was it.  I felt so… UNFINISHED when I was done so I went on to complete the lesson with the one above.  Then I thought, I wonder if I can do with acrylics what you do with watercolour and tried to make grass.  My goal was to create a swampy region with trees in the background.  Was it stellar piece of work?  No.  Hubby and son like the top one the best, but I was delighted that I decided to be creative and take a lesson from one part of the course and apply it to another.

lesson hint
Lesson hint for finding the horizon

3 D Design

The 3D Design Course was more difficult than I thought it would be. ADMITTEDLY I made an oops.  I honestly thought I had the right kind of clay on hand, and didn’t. Therefore I needed to make do with the air dry clay I had on hand. The lad mentioned, “OH, I used it up mom!”  “Gah!”

Ah well, it was still fun to make what I call a foxling.  A mammal that lays eggs and guards them.  🙂   He’s not quite done in the image below.

foxling, 3d design

Should you get it?

I loved parts of this course, and other parts I chafed at, but at all stages I learned something.   In the drawing course I learned the importance of using guidelines to help me achieve the curve I wanted in a line, in watercolour to practice new skills.  Acrylics was simply fun, playing with paint, building on skills learned in watercolour.  3D design was simply a nice break to test out working with clay again.  I’ve worked with clay a lot with my lad and have built a number of items. Creating my egg-laying foxling was great, bringing an imaginative creature to life was a hoot.  Now to write the story to go with him.  🙂 

Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course PLUS 3 Bonus Courses is an interesting set of courses.  Worth taking the time to look at,  give it a look-see, you may find that it suits the artistic needs of your family.  

Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beyondthestickfigure/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/britladyinamerica/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/beyondthestickfigureart/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCROy5BkqT_cZvQu1dTPRYzw

I urge you to check out the 80 reviewers for the Beyond the Stick Figure. Delve into the world of artistic expression and see how you too might surprise yourself with your ability to be an artist. 

Beyond the Stick Figure Complete Drawing Course {Beyond the Stick Figure Art School}

Sticker Mosaics: Exotic Animals

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You know those adult colouring books you can get?  How relaxing it is to just sit and colour?  It’s a fun way to keep your hands busy as your mind wanders.  At least I find it so. 🙂  Sometimes it a great way to just be “busy” when you need to stop and think for a while on something.   As much as I enjoy my colouring books, I’ve also discovered the joy of sticker books.  Not the kid kind … but ones where I can recreate a work of art, or buildings, or in the case of today’s review: Sticker Mosaics Exotic Animals.  

Being able to keep my hands busy without having to juggle pencil crayons or markers… HUGE!   Why huge?  Well, imagine you are killing time at a doctor’s office, sitting in a car or on public transit, attending a lecture that busy hands helps you focus on better, or whatever.  Not having to mess around with paper and colouring instruments is important. 

Sticker Mosaics Exotic Animals

What I am Reviewing

Sticker Mosaics: Exotic Animals.
Silvio Rebelo.
Castle Point Books/St. Martin’s Press.
80 pages, Stiff paperback with flaps, Notebook size
8+ years
1252 stickers in total.

Meditation, relaxation, sticker books, exotic animals, 

Reviewed for Raincoast Books.

Unbelievable animals come to life with easy sticker masterpieces.
Take your coloring to the next level by doing it with stickers instead of pencils! Each one of the 12 designs in this book has spaces for mosaic shapes that you fill in using the pages of different colored stickers in the back, allowing you to create one-of-a-kind mosaic designs. Color-by-sticker is a fun new way to express creativity and explore color, and this series gives readers the freedom to create their own unique designs, no artistic ability required.

Sticker Mosaics Exotic Animals

Details of Sticker Mosaics

Silvio Rebelo has created a wonderful book!  It’s notebook size makes it easy to transport anywhere.  Sticker Mosaics: Exotic Animals offers 12 different animals to color by sticker. Choose from bobact, butterfly, chameleon, leopard, macaw, monkey, penguin, scorpion, toucan, elephant, flamingo or a frog.  Each a bright colourful animal for you to enjoy creating.  

Sticker Mosaics Exotic Animals

It’s easy to find the stickers that you need, each two page sticker spread has a small image of page you are working on in the top right corner.  The stickers and their colours are unique for each animal.  This allows you to create a truly unique work of art that any animal lover will adore.  All told you’ll find more than 1200 stickers to place.

Sticker Mosaics Exotic Animals

They vary in range of difficulty.  Some would be easily completed by most, others would take a more experienced hand.  I would have loved for the creators to put them in order of difficulty in the book so you could work your way up.  🙂

For the difficult ones I would recommend using a tweezer to accurately place the stickers.  Once placed, they stick. I was browsing the reviews on Amazon and one person said the stickers come off again, they don’t. A tweezer will give you the control and distance you need to place them well. 

Sticker Mosaics Exotic Animals

Do take your time and place them carefully.  Most of mine I did well, but messed up just a bit.   Still looks good from a distance.

The perforated sheets means you can later display them if you would like, or could send along for friends and family to enjoy.  A gift perhaps?

Should you get it?

Of course you should make Sticker Mosaics: Exotic Animals part of your relaxation time.  You’ll like the heavy paper and the vibrant colours of each sticker, and you’ll find that they stick well.  Find the sticker, place the sticker, and ease your mind.  Let your busy hands and quiet thoughts bring some relaxation in your life. 

Art tells a Story

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I originally wrote this post in April of 2015 as part of a blog hop.   I am making some adaptations as it’s now more than 4 years later.

Learning how to create art in my household took some figuring, it was harder than I thought to have my lad do art with me.  Real life art for us has always needed to involve a story.  Let me expand upon that, maybe your children are the same.  🙂  Maybe they too, need to see how art tells a story.

I don’t know about you but I have a creative child.   He draws, writes, story tells and creates.   He plays minecraft and creates these little worlds that are very specific in their purpose.  “DAD!   Don’t do that in this world.   That’s not supposed to happen!”   This is a frequent cry in the afternoon.  He still plays minecraft and when he plays with his friends it’s in worlds he has created with a story line in mind.  Wouldn’t it be fun mom to live in an ice world where you need to stay within ___ feet of heat in order to survive?  Imagine how hard it would be to find or create resources!

It’s rather fascinating at times with what he creates.  One of my desires it to  create more often with my child.  Therefore, I would come up with marvelous ideas that I think might tickle his fancy.

Any thoughts on how often I am successful?

Well…absolutely NONE!  I’ve needed to realize this truth:  If I can’t sell the art as a way to tell a story, we have no art.  No story no art.  It’s just the way it rolls. 

Art Tells a Story

Finding the Story

If I can find a story, I can create the art with my lad. Not finding the story means going through the art form without actually doing art.  It has no significance for him, and therefore is a meaningless exercise.  Finding the story… even if it’s from a poem… and Voila!   We have art.

In the found these marvellous books at the library called “imagine a day”.   I would read the poem of the day to my lad.  I read it without showing him the picture.  I’d cover up the page as much as I could so I wouldn’t be influenced.  We would then each sit down and draw a picture of what the story told us. We had SO MUCH fun with these books.   When we were done we would compare our pictures with the picture in the book.  Sometimes we were quite similar to the book and to each other and other times we had good discussions on what we did and why. It was such a fun time together learning, thinking, and drawing together, letting our imaginations soar.

Art Tells a Story

An example of finding the story

Another example would be the day we worked with doing a fresca.   Here I didn’t stop to think and merely followed the instructions given. Draw lines of colour to  get used to drawing with fresca.  I was met with a complaining child “what’s the point of this mom?”  Then I turned it into a story.  What do you think might happen if we did a boat that would capsize?   How about we have a clan cat hunting for a mouse?   Suddenly my story-telling lad was full of ideas and colours he could use.

Imagine a day when art tells a story

It’s taken us time to learn something really important.  Art is story. It’s not always a readily seen story, but it always tells a story of some sort. The colours, depth, humour, lighting, solemnity, shading etc… it all tells a story. 

Use the story to create the art, let the art tell the story.   

I was recently watching a glass-blowing competition and one of the participants always had to come up with a reason, or a story, for any piece that she did.  Did she want to tell the story of her first ever cupcake, or tell of the struggle of women in the glass-blowing world, or the lost child.  What story could she tell through her glass work? This was her focus.  She did some amazing pieces. 🙂

So tell me something, how do you do art in your homeschool?   Do your children happily engage in any art opportunities that you offer them? Or are they more like my creative one… needing a story freeing them up to explore?

blog hop

Hey!  Follow The crew through this Annual Not Going Back to School homeschool blog hop!  Links of participants below

CREW @ Homeschool Review Crew – 2019 Annual Not Back to School Homeschool Blog Hop  
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses – ABC of Homeschooling
Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag – Adding Fun to Your Homeschool Day
Erin @ For Him and My Family – Large Family Homeschooling 
Lori @ At Home Where Life Happens – Learning Life Skills
Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling – Homeschooling the High School Years
Monique D. @ Early Learning Mom – Homeschooling With Autism
Yvie @ Homeschool On the Range – 5 Days of Upper Grades Homeschooling
Abby @ Making Room 4 One More – Time Management for Homeschool Moms 
Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool – 5 Days of Homeschool Questions
Amy @ the WRITE Balance – Year-Round Schooling 
Annette @ A Net in Time – Homeschooling. 
Betty @ Lets Get Real – Homeschooling High School 
Cassandra @ My Blessed Mess – Eclectic Homeschooling

Kimberley @ Vintage Blue Suitcase – Roadschooling with a Teenager

Born to Draw Comics

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Who doesn’t love Snoopy and Charlie Brown and all those little people in Peanuts?  Want to meet the author behind these wonderful characters?  Born To Draw Comics is the Story of Charles Schultz. 

Born to Draw Comics

What I Am Reviewing

Born to Draw Comics: The story of Charles Schultz.
Ginger Wadsworth
Craig Orback (illustrator)
Christy Ottaviano Books
Received: softcover ARC
History, Biography, Comics, Children, Art, Children’s Art, picture book
40 Pages, full colour
Ages 4-8
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

As a child, Charles split his free time between adventures outdoors with his friends and dog Spike, and daydreams and doodles inspired by the comics he loved to read. He longed to become a professional cartoonist, but saw his dreams deferred by unexpected challenges that laid ahead: military deployment to the European front of World War II, and the heartbreak of a family tragedy back home. Even so, Charles never lost sight of the hopeful joy of his early years and his love for Spike, both of which inspired PEANUTS. The comic strip went on to become the most popular and influential in comics history.

Born to Draw Comics

The Details

Even though this book is geared to students in grades 1 & 2, I would have no hesitation recommending it to any student interested in the life of Charles Schultz.   The mixed panel format along with full colour images and a good storyline makes for an informative read. 

Born to Draw Comics

Interspersed throughout are individual images and scenes that “Sparky” Schultz drew.  The text was well done, drawing us into the life of Charles as a child. 

Born to Draw Comics

You will find yourself drawn into his story, relishing the details of what made his life what it was.  It was not always an easy life, but he had a boyhood filled with delights!  He shared those delights in his comic strip Peanuts. 

Born to Draw Comics

Should you Get it?

I really liked this book, delving into the life of Charles Schultz.  It was a joy to see his love of drawing and his wide circle of activities.  Drawing wasn’t the only thing he had going on his life, but as he put “he was born to draw comic strips”.   Born to Draw Comics is an excellent introduction into his life for sure. 

If you are studying Charles “Sparky” Shultz, or interested in learning about comic strips and their creators, Born to Draw Comics would be a good addition to your study. 

disclosure

Want to Learn Art?

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Art, it’s a wonderful part of the life don’t you find?   Today I am focusing on visual arts like drawing, painting, sculpting and what not.   Things you look at and make with your hands, feet or mouth.  🙂   Not everyone does art the same way do they?   So if you want to learn art, here are some places to go.

Want to Learn Art?

Art for Elementary School

Created by A Net in Time
Want to Learn Art?
created by A Net In Time

Art for Middle School

 

Want to Learn Art?
Created by A Net in Time

Art For High School

Book Reviews you might want to check out

I adore the 642 Things to draw series.  I’ve reviewed a few of them and think they are fantastic for inspiring conversation and imagination over an art prompt idea. You will find one review here. And another here.  Grab up a couple of drawing pages, sit down and draw.  Talk about how an art prompt inspired you.  Laugh, be amazed, and just draw.

Want to Learn Art?

Draw, Print, Paint like the Great artists continues to be a favourite of mine.  And this Zentangles book made for a really fun class at HOPE days that I would happily do again.  I had a series of How to Draw books that we used for ideas when stuck.  Fine Art Adventures was a great book as well that we have used. You must check out this Doll Crafts book as well.  So many great ideas for making dolls!  Don’t fail to check out the Get into Art Places book.  These are just a few of the great books I’ve been honoured to review. 

If you want to learn art, there are so many ways to do so.  🙂

fresh start

SchoolhouseTeachers has over 20 art classes as well as many art components mixed into her other courses. Some of the teachers are Art Achieve, Jan Bower, Everyday Easels, Inkscape and Studio for Teens. Do check out their amazing deal.  $5 for a month of art?  Videos and on-line lessons.  Access wherever you go. It’s a great deal eh?  Get all your school needs met in one place. 

And do some art!

Want to Learn Some Specifics?