Picture Study, The Ultimate Feast of Beauty

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Picture study: just one more thing to do? Or a multi layered treasure to be enjoyed? I’ll go with number 2! Picture study is a treasure trove of beauty, opportunity to learn and grow as well as a very fun activity.

Charlotte Mason’s picture study

Charlotte Mason, the famous English educator, is at the heart of picture study. She brought it front and center, not just as an academic tool but as true art appreciation. Her method develops in the child a thirst for the beautiful, a desire to lay eyes on real art and a knowledge on how to appreciate it. To her it is another form of storytelling: “As in a worthy book we leave the author to tell his own tale, so do we trust a picture to tell its tale through the medium the artists gave it.“ – Charlotte Mason. Her method is truly simple: look at an art piece for 5 to 10 minutes, once a week, then discuss it.

My picture study

Well… You guessed it, I put my own twist on picture study! Charlotte Mason’s method is so simple that it should be easy to implement, right? And it is, but it is also very easy for it to fall into the cracks of a busy week. “We’ll just do it tomorrow instead”quickly became my leitmotif for picture study. And tomorrow seemed to never come and appreciation fell by the wayside. I did NOT want it to not happen, it was just one. more. thing. And it was just too much at a time when I was juggling young children and working from home.

The solution

Picture books! I know, I know, where will it stop? It won’t, lol! That’s the whole point! Picture books are amazing and can solve all of life’s problems. Or almost… But truly picture books are what brought art appreciation back into our homeschool. How? Well through the Daily Picture Book booklists. I can guarantee you there is at least one artist’s birthday a month! And we can keep studying that artist until the next artist’s birthday. It made it so easy for me to reintroduce picture study in our daily life. It was almost miraculous.

How

On the birthday of the artist we read a picture book biography of that artist. We make a connection, we create a meaningful relationship with the person. Then we look at her art, often we admire it, but sometimes we don’t, and that’s ok. I love picture books that incorporate the artist’s art in its illustrations, it makes it easier to create a relationship with the artist. I will display art prints of the artist until we encounter another artist. Sometimes we will deep dive into learning the art style of the artist through either copying one print or a class such as the ones offered by Meet the Masters. We have really enjoyed these classes and other similar ones.

Why it was a solution for me

Simply because I could tag it to something we were looking forward to: the daily picture book and that I knew we would not skip. Instead of trying to add one more thing, it was already an integral part of our day. It also took the guesswork out of my hands. No more having to decide which artist to study, that helps a lot with FOMO! When I can tag things to each other it almost always guarantees that we will get to them. It facilitates the follow through. It is so easy to put aside the “little” things, the simple things to get to math or spelling. But truly art appreciation is just as essential to our souls and minds. And now it does not fall by the wayside anymore and is an integral part of our education.

What we love about this new picture study

It gives us a chance to have a relationship with the artist and her art. Not all artists have had a beautiful picture book written about their lives. Starting with the picture book helps a lot in creating the relationship. If the picture book includes the artist’s art, that is even better and helps us understand and deepen the relationship right away. It is my interpretation of Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of “the relationship of ideas”. As a home educator, compartmentalizing everything under its own subject did not work. Integrating subjects with each other works. Just like I do not segregate my children per grade or age, I do not like to segregate subjects. But that’s for another post…

Art displayed in the home

There are so many ways to display art in our homes! The obvious is on the walls and on shelves, beautiful framed art always brightens up a home. I love the trendy  “quick change picture frames” that are available. They look nice, and it is easy to change the art print in them. Find a space where you can have at least two of them, one horizontal and one vertical, to be able to display prints in either direction. I find the ones with mats most attractive as it allows for displaying smaller images. Another way to display art in your home is, of course, your smart tv. One day I’ll have one, lol! Yet another is your liturgical board. Always display beautiful religious art! I miss the beautiful religious art displayed in old French churches… The architecture itself is art, but all the side chapels also usually have either beautiful statues or paintings. Just going to Mass can be an art appreciation class of its own.

Picture books

Another reason to love picture books! Each one is a treasure trove of beautiful art! Have you ever noticed that some of them actually say “paintings by so and so” rather than “illustrated by so and so”? Illustrators can be real artists, but just like with the words written in the picture book, beware of twaddle art… I always judge a picture book by its cover. If the art is not pleasing, I rarely pick it up unless it’s the only one on that subject or person and I don’t have a choice. And even then, sometimes I pass, I just can’t do ugly… And if we do not like the art, we try to understand the artist and why her art looks the way it does. There is still opportunity, even if we don’t like the art. And of course we all develop affinities with certain illustrators more than with others.

One more tag

One more thing I like to tag on to an artist’s birthday is art technique. Having created a relationship with the artist, being familiar with her art, the next obvious step is to learn her art technique. There are so many wonderful resources out there. Our favorite is Meet the Masters, I have found that the adult class works well for all ages and is the most complete. The lessons are not very long but the end result is usually pretty good. My children look forward to learning new techniques that they can apply to their drawings. Another frequently used resource is the book Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art Experiences in the Styles of the Great Masters, by MaryAnn Khol, illustrated by Kim SolgaI am in the process of building a Pinterest account that will be rich with art appreciation and techniques ideas, stay tuned! It is a huge process! 
Art is beauty and should be at the center of an education that wants to promote wonder and excitement for everything true, good and beautiful. Let’s bring back art appreciation in the heart of our homes.
Love,
Mattie