Pointillism!

I am teaching Pointillism in practicum right now. It is a very fun, neat, and challenging technique! I am finding that I am able to create a picture that does not require me to be an expert artist!! I find that when I draw I get too hung up on details and then am too frustrated because I cannot produce what I would like to. In Pointillism, you are supposed to not have detail but instead, create lines, depth, differences, shades, and lighting, using only colors and dots. At first, when I thought about doing this project, I was fearful and insecure about having to do my own drawing as an example for the students. As I started dotting the paper, the more dots I made, the more I wanted to do!! I became excited about it and was curious about what I could all do with just dots and colors! Even me, a non-expert when it comes to art, could create and achieve depth, shading, and unity, using only colors and dots!! It is a very encouraging and art-confidence building project!! I will post a picture as soon as I get my Pointillism drawing finished! It is a great technique!

Art History

I really enjoyed the art history lesson that Virginia gave to our class. It brought back a few reminders of the Art History course I took in university. I attended a Liberal Arts university (majoring in Chemistry) for one year and thus, was required to fulfill one art credit per year. Since art is very daunting for me, Art History seemed like the safest course for me to take. Little did I know, it would be one of the most demanding courses I ever took at university. We ventured through pre-historic time periods, the gothic time period, and onwards.
When I was 14, my family took a trip across Canada .... when we got to Quebec, my mom dragged us into every old church known to the Quebeckers. I can remember thinking "When you've seen one old church, you've seen them all!" The summer after taking the Art course, I went to England to visit family. And boy, had my thoughts of what an old church looked like drastically changed. I walked through many an old church noticing intricate details and ornate features different in each of them. I even had the chance to walk through some of the very churches that I had studied. The churches had come alive to me now as I walked about noticing things I would have otherwise taken for granted. Art History can be a very powerful tool used to create interest in and awe and respect for the architecture, the details , and the differences in style and expression.