{Art Together} The E-zine!

When I ask Ree what she'd like to do today, more times then not her response is "do art". I have no background in art, I felt I didn't have any talent in it & got discouraged when trying to "do art" or think up something art for Ree to do. 

Then along came Amy and her blog and her encouragement and I now don't want to run screaming when Ree says she wants to do some art. I've also come to see through Amy & her project ideas, that art isn't the end product. It's the process of getting to the end product that truly counts. I believe this is something that Ree has known all along....she would much rather go to the art supply drawers & pull out different things to make her own creation then have me come up with an idea for her to produce. 

Every so often she'll need a jump start on what to work on though. And I want to also use art time as a teaching time. I was ecstatic when Amy began her series {Art Together} last winter. Each week she'd write a post featuring different Art mediums. Color; textures; color mixing; drawing; etc. I love it! She's made me think of different areas of art that I never would have thought to present to Ree as well as materials that I wouldn't think to have purchased for us to use. (Our first water coloring session way back when was thanks to Amy's encouragement).

The two biggest things I've gotten from Amy is to focus on art as a process, rather then an end product; and that I can do art too even though I don't think I have talent for it. Some of my favorite times are when Ree & I pull out the paints to draw and paint together. Another favorite activity of Ree's came from one of Amy's ideas: color mixing with water & food coloring. 

At the beginning of the month I got an exciting e-mail from Amy. She was in the process of putting together an Art Together E-zine and would Ree & I be interested in a copy to look over and try some activities from and give feedback to? I jumped at the opportunity!!

The first issue of {Art Together} is all about color. 27 pages chock full of project ideas, an artist spotlight, featured art material and many resources to help you dig deeper into Color.

The above pictures are from one of the activities: black outlines, painted color. I put out blank watercolor paper, two sharpies & the watercolors and we went to town. We both drew out shapes with the Sharpies then painted our drawings. Ree wanted to add her personal touch to mine & that was okay too! At one time a blank piece of paper & paints would have made me leave the room thinking I couldn't do this. With Amy's guidance I now enjoy this time of creating with my little one. (And hearing Ree say "Momma you chose beautiful colors! It looks gorgeous!" Helps a lot too!)

The e-zine has so much to offer on Color that I am sure it will keep us busy until the next issue comes out! We already have a stack of books on hold for us at the library from the resources included.

Amy has generously offered to give away one copy of the new E-Zine to one of my readers! To win simply leave a comment. If you want to share how you incorporate art into your teaching/life with little's that would be good too! The giveaway will be open until next Thursday morning when I announce the winner in a post back here!

If you are interested in purchasing a copy Amy is offering a 20% off discount through September 30th, just use the code "Birthday" when checking out (and go wish her a happy birthday on Saturday!!)

Also, make sure you check out the {Art Together} Flickr group. So much inspiration over there as well!