Budding Artists

The last couple of weeks, Joshua and Thomas have been very busy with artistic endeavors. First, we found out that Thomas's artwork was chosen to be displayed at the school district art show at a real gallery. We had no idea that the school district even had an art show, and were so excited to see his work. The art teacher chose one piece of artwork to display from each class. Thomas's class was studying the French impressionist Edgar Degas who is famous for his paintings of ballet dancers. Here is an example of a Degas:

To make it more fun for first graders (especially the boys), the art teacher had the kids do a chalk pastel of "frog ballet dancers."

Here is Thomas showing off his work at the Art Gallery


And a close-up of his work


This is a tough assignment because it is hard to not make a total mess when using chalk pastels. And Thomas added interesting details like the wood floor and stage lighting. He definitely got his artistic ability from his dad because I cannot even draw a frog, let alone one doing ballet.

Here you can see some of the other artwork from his school, including the two other "Degas frogs" that were chosen.



Joshua has been busy with the fine arts as well. He was chosen to play the "dog catcher" in our first ever musical, Annie jr., at his school. We went to see the play on opening night this past Tuesday, and everyone did a really great job. Joshua nailed his dog catcher role!!

Here he is running on stage looking for a dog. We weren't allowed to use a flash so the pictures are a little dark.


And here he is talking to Annie, asking her about her dog, Sandy. He only had one line, but lots of kids didn't get any lines!!



Here he is after the play with his buddy, Shepherd who played a servant.


This was such a fun experience for Joshua, even thought he had a small part. He learned all about what it takes to put on a show, like the backstage area, the costumes and lot of rehearsals.