Young Artists Study Van Gogh

Our artist of the week is Vincent Van Gogh.

 

As usual, we started by reading some books about Van Gogh. We learned he had lots of problems, that no one liked his paintings, and he only sold one painting his whole life.

 

He also cut off part of his ear and then painted himself a few times with the ear all bandaged up.

 

Not surprisingly, this was one of the pictures that didn't sell during his lifetime.

 

I told Hailey and Makayla that Van Gogh has a special appeal for me. When I was their age, Mom had a copy of one of Van Gogh's many versions of Sunflowers hanging in our living room.

 I always liked that painting.

 

 

I told the girls how we'd been to visit a Van Gogh museum in Europe, and how there were many paintings I loved

 

and a some that were meh.

 

 

We studied his most famous painting, Starry Night, noting all the colors, the short strokes of paint, and the feeling of movement.

 

Hailey created her own Starry Night, using artist chalk.

 

 Makayla was not in a painting mood, so she listened to.....

  ,,,Don McLean's Starry Starry Night while Hailey worked.

You can watch it here.

 

Here's Vincent's Starry Night

 

and Hailey's Starry Night.

 

 

Van Gogh was born in the Netherlands, so I picked up some authentic Dutch cheese, all the way from Costco.

I was pretty sure the girls won't like this cheese. Here's Hailey, suspiciously smelling it...

...and gingerly taking a nibble/bite.



Hailey declares "It's Goud(a)!!"

So does Makayla!

In fact, they went back for seconds,



thirds,

 and fourths, fifths, and sixths, pretty much polishing off the whole wedge in one sitting.

 

 

Our next day we took a look at Sunflowers. We noted that several versions had colorful variations.

 

Using acrylic paint, we choose a colorful background. Makayla went for purple,

Hailey for pink.

Albertson's provided our lovely Sunflower bouquet model.

We aren't trying to exactly reproduce our bouquet; we wanted to enjoy our own colorful sunflower creation, using our centerpiece as inspiration.



Makayla's version...

...and Hailey's version.

 

Our next Dutch food are these cookies,

made locally by a couple of Dutch brothers who run a Billings deli.

Surprise! They were even more popular than the cheese!

After learning about poor Vincent, we're moving on to happier things.

We've got fun times ahead!

 

 

The End

This is the time of the year for endings. Hailey's soccer season ended this week, and she was assigned to bring treats for that final game. Say it with me: "There is no irony in ending each sports game with a sugary treat." While it makes me cringe to provide dessert after an hour of good, old-fashioned exercise, the Joneses aren't going to be the ones to provide carrot sticks to the team expecting cookies--especially at the last game. Makayla and Hailey helped me make pink frosted cupcakes.

 

I don't think there's more than, oh, a tablespoon of saliva on each of these little beauties. We did wash our hands first.

Here they are--cute little teeth-rotters, ready to pass out to the team!

Our next end was actually not the last of Makayla's hot dog. Nope--that's just the end of her lunch while waiting for Hailey's end of the year school program.

Hailey's class began by reading a cute poem in unison,

using lots of expression.

It's always bittersweet to go into a first grade room and watch these kids. Amy and I took turns joining them on Fridays to listen to them read individually throughout the year, and I couldn't help but think of Mom's first grade, of how much she loved and enjoyed her students.

After the group reading, they did another little reading in smaller groups. It was delightful.

Afterwards there were cookies and lemonade. Look how sweet Hailey has her arm around Makayla, waiting for their turn to be fed.

Hailey has a wonderful teacher-Mrs. Leffler. She played basketball with Shelly, although she graduated with Scott, I think. Her mom was Scott and Shelly's preschool teacher. Mrs. Leffler has been a excellent match for Hailey. She took all of Hailey's quirks in stride, and genuinely seems to like her.

Only one more week of first grade, Hailey, then HELLO SUMMERTIME!!!!

Europe: From Prague to Rexburg

For many years, Mom tried to talk her five children and their spouses into going on a trip together somewhere. It just never worked out--too many busy schedules full of children, jobs, and life. I feel sad, knowing how much Mom would have loved to be with us, her children, as we enjoyed each other's company. Mom was big on family unity. I think that is one of her many great legacies.

When Mom died in 2009, we decided to set aside a portion of our inheritance for that trip. After 2 years of discussion, David came across this river cruise down the Rhine. Perfect! Unlike my siblings, I had never been to Europe and I could hardly wait for the cruise to begin. I must say, not only did the trip meet my anxious anticipation, it far surpassed it.

 I only wish Mom had been there to enjoy it with us. 

 Our river cruise--except we started in Basel and ended in Amsterdam

Sorting through the thousands of pictures I took has been overwhelming. I took careful notes; even so, many of the places we visited are have already blurred together. There were so many breathtaking churches, fabulous foods, tasty gelatos, charming cities, and stunning vistas. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get some things wrong. I reserve the right to change information, tell the story from my angle, and label pictures in a very general way.

That one cathedral in that one town.

Before I launch into Europe, I should mention Rexburg. When I got home on Sunday, I spent a few days trying to catch up, relearning to sleep nights instead of days (I now know how a newborn feels), and getting on top of laundry, phone messages, mail, and general life. On Friday Megan and I traveled to Rexburg so that Megan could go see Bill Cosby life with her significant other.

 Bill Cosby, not Megan's significant other. Bill had four sellout shows at BYU-I.

Meanwhile, I enjoyed time with cute little Brinlee, Ashley, and McKay, and Rexburg's delicious assortment of frozen yogurt, custard and gelati (not a misspelling-don't ask). So much for weaning myself off of frozen treats. The Backmans were in Utah, watching Jorden participate in a bike marathon. It's ok. I ate their share of ice cream for them.

This cute, tiny girl is taking her first steps. She's already pretty steady on her feet. She has the world's most expressive face.

Brinlee is sweet and so happy, no doubt because of her excellent mom and dad.

Since Brinlee turns 1 year old on the 22nd, I brought her this beautifully wrapped early birthday present.

Oooo...just what she wanted!

I think she likes it!

Up first: European Travels: Beautiful Prague