One of my very favorite spots at Shelburne Museum is Pleissner Gallery, which features the paintings of Ogden Pleissner. Like me, Pleissner loved the outdoors. One of his hobbies was fly fishing, and he painted a lot of beautiful water scenes of his favorite spots to fish.
Pleissner was a lifelong artist. When he was
five years old he loved the wallpaper in his stairway at home because
it was covered in tiny boats. One day, when his mom wasn't looking, he
drew people in all the boats with a crayon! Even though he got in
trouble, it shows us just how much he loved to draw.
Looking at one of Pleissner's landscapes is like standing at a window where you can see way into the distance. He has divided the painting into a foreground, which is what's right in front, the middle ground a bit farther back, and the background reaching to the skyline. The artistic term for this is "composition."
I thought we could try making our own compositions with a foreground, middle ground, and background. Here's what you'll need:
Paper
A pencil
Crayons (colored pencils or pastels--chalk or oil--would work, too!)
Using your pencil, draw three lines to create a foreground, middle ground, and background. You don't want to draw them straight across the page; instead, make them wavy and crooked.
Next, draw something in each section. I drew a house in the background, a tree in the middle ground, and a turtle in the foreground, but you can make your composition whatever you want! I also drew a road that comes from the background into the middle ground. Hint: draw it wider as it gets closer to the foreground.
Finally, I colored in my picture!
What Ogden Pleissner-inspired landscape will you make? Email me your creation at webby@shelburnemuseum.org for a chance to appear on my blog. Don't forget to sign your artwork!
Go here to learn more about our upcoming exhibition in Pleissner Gallery, and visit the Museum when we open on May 12th to see the paintings.
Things are getting really busy at Shelburne Museum as we prepare for the season opening on Sunday, May 12. I have been working so hard preparing my Dive In with Webby cards that when my friend Denise and her family asked me to go with them on a cruise to the Bahamas, I simply could not say no. Here are some pictures from my wonderful adventure to the tropics!
Off we go to the airport. I made sure to buckle up and kept my suitcase with me at all times.
What a view from the window of our ship's cabin room. Boy, that cruise ship looks nothing like steamboat Ticonderoga.
One of the first things I did was put on my sunglasses because I was ready to enjoy...
Lounging under the sun! Do I look as relaxed as the figures in Edouard Manet's Au Jardin (In the Garden) painting on display at the Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building?
Edouard Manet (1832-83) Au Jardin (In the Garden),
ca. 1870, oil on canvas. Collection of Shelburne Museum.
Denise let me have some soda during lunch!
As well as some berry smoothie for an afternoon snack. I had so much sugar that I had a little bit of a tummy ache. Denise gave me something to settle my stomach, so there was no need to visit an Apothecary.
Here I am, enjoying the beach at our first port. I spent all day working on my sandcastle fortress. When I'm not at the beach, I like to build and create all sorts of things at Owl Cottage.
Denise and I thought all the servers were so great on the ship. They even let us take this picture with them.
The family tried to teach me how to play the game cornhole, but I didn't understand the rules very well. Perhaps I'm too used to the games that are on display at the Toy Shop.
But the coolest thing about my trip is that I met so many new friends:
Like this fellow.
I had a fun dance party with my new elephant friend before bed.
And I even let this new buddy borrow my sunglasses while we lounged together. We chatted about the all-new exhibit of Patty Yoder's beautiful hooked rugs on display at the Hat & Fragrance building for this season.
One day we played trivia! The person running the game let me read one question to the other players. I answered all of the questions using what I have learned from Shelburne Museum.
And I won the game! They gave me lots of medals.
Once the ship returned to the mainland, it was time to go back home.
I made it back safe and sound to the Museum. I can't wait to show everyone my new hats and large beach towel.
I feel so refreshed after a fun vacation with Denise and her family. I'm now ready to get back to work helping the staff prepare the grounds, programs, and events for another great season. Tune in next time when I share how you can create landscape art.
Have you ever painted or drawn a scene you saw outside?Did you make your picture outdoors or did you
create it later, entirely from memory?What
about the scene inspired you to create your piece of art?
Here is a picture Ayesha made last season at Owl Cottage!
Click here to see other pictures done by amazing artists at Owl Cottage.
Whether it is violent waves washing up on a rocky cliff or tall
trees flickering back and forth with the wind in the quiet countryside, the
outdoors has been a popular subject for artists for hundreds of years.But out of all these artists, there was one
painter whose works remain some of the most famous outdoor scenes in the world.Shelburne Museum’s Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial building has some excellent examples of these landscape paintings by artist
Claude Monet.
Claude Monet was an Impressionist painter, which means he
liked painting real life moments as they were actually happening.Other artists of that time would recreate
outdoor scenes from memory or a picture while working entirely inside a studio.Monet, however, preferred to start and finish
his paintings outdoors in front of the actual scene.
Les glacons (The Ice Floes) 1880, Claude Monet
But why?To Claude
Monet, his paintings were not about the subjects.Instead, he was interested in recording how the
light hit the subject exactly at the moment he was painting.That’s why Monet painted many works of the
same object at different times of the day and even different seasons of the
year. Click here to go to Columbia University's fun and interactive study of Monet's series of the Rouen Cathedral in France. It truly is amazing how not one of these paintings look the same! As the sun moves across the sky, the light it
casts causes colors to look different and shadows to grow and shrink.Do you ever notice how the light of sunrise
can be bright and intense while the sunset appears low and calm?Monet was
an expert at showing these differences of light on his canvas by carefully choosing
different colors of paint and carefully studying the shadows.
The Thames at Charing Cross Bridge, Londres (The Thames at Charing Cross Bridge, London)
1899, Claude Monet
Meules, effet de neige (Grainstacks, Snow Effect)
1891, Claude Monet
Interested in capturing light like Monet?All you need to be an Impressionist is a
camera and a scene.Since I have been
cooped up inside for these long winter months, I chose to be a part of the
scene.Take pictures of your scene
during different times of the day.To
really get a fun assortment, take pictures over a couple of days, a week, or
even a month. If you really want to see
some differences, try taking pictures of the scene during different seasons.Don’t forget to label each picture with the
time of day!
8:30 a.m. & Cloudy
10:45 a.m. & Partly Sunny
Feel free to take pictures of your scene from all different angles and
distances.Pick the ones that you really
like and compare the colors and shadows.Is there one that is really bright?How about dull?Are the shadows
small or really big?Which time of day
do you think shows the best light?
Be sure to check out Shelburne Museum’s great collection of
Claude Monet’s paintings at the Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building and my
new Dive In cards site starting on May 12!
Shelburne Museum's Toy Shop is home to many spectacular toys.
Amongst all there is to see, my favorite toys at the shop are those that 'trick
the eyes.' These are known as optical toys.
Learn more about the fascinating world of stereopticons by clicking here. (Photo from Turtle Point Press's Traveltainted Blog)
Like this stereopticon! Stereopticons make pictures look like they are really in front of you and not flat images on paper. This magic is done
by showing our eyes two pictures instead of one: one seen by only the right eye
and one for only the left. Our brains then combine both pictures to make one super
rich image that looks real.
Stereopticons were expensive toys for some families in the 1800s. But let me introduce you to a simple optical toy that you can make at home: the thaumatrope.
A thaumatrope--also called a 'turning marvel'--is a disc with two different
images on each side. The disc has strings attached on opposite ends. The holder
of the thaumatrope twists one of the strings. Once it is completely twisted up,
he or she takes hold of both the strings and allows the disc to start
spinning. Here's the cool part: our eyes continue to see an image for a
fraction of second after it has left our sight. So as the
thaumatrope's images keep spinning in and out of view, our eyes make the
two images appear as one picture.
You can find the original source of this photo by clicking here.
Can you
imagine the two images above as one? Spinning this antique thaumatrope would make
it look like the hound is chasing the wild birds!
Let me show you how easy it is to make your very own thaumatrope! Here's what
you will need:
·Card stock, recycled cardboard,
or posterboard (you'll want something thicker than paper so that the attached
strings do not rip through your disc)
·String (for large thaumatropes)
·Rubber bands (for small
thaumatropes)
·Pencil
·Colored Pencils, Crayons, or
Markers (optional)
·Glue stick
I found
this gift box lying around to make my thaumatrope. Think green and find an old
cardboard box, poster board, or perhaps an old birthday card to make your
thaumatrope disc. If what you find has images already on it, trace your disc
onto regular paper, draw your designs on the paper, and then glue your illustrations on the disc faces.
I also
found a cake round to use as my disc template. I made my thaumatrope really big so you could see, but I suggest making yours much smaller than mine (no wider than 3 inches). It is a lot of work twisting the string to get a big disc
spinning!
Now that
I have my discs, I'm ready to draw! When you are ready to draw, I recommend
picking two images that 'tell' a little story. Here are some ideas to help get
you started:
Man on a Horse You can find the original source of this image by clicking here.
Flowers in a Vase You can find the original source of this image by clicking here.
Bird in a Cage You can find the original source of this image by clicking here.
Looking
for more inspiration? Click here to see even more examples of thaumatropes!
I used a
picture of myself to help me draw a likeness on one circle. Can you see the
thought bubble on the other disc? What do you think I'll be thinking about?
My friend
Paige helped me outline my drawing with a black marker.
It's time
to punch some holes! Make sure the holes line up on each on circle.
Carefully
glue the two sides together. Make sure that the holes line up, but also make
sure that you glue one image upside down, just like how Paige is gluing the
image of me in the picture above.
Finally,
you only need to attach the strings! For large thaumatropes like mine, you'll
either need really strong rubber bands or good string. But, for small
thaumatropes, rubber bands work great.
So what was I thinking about on my thaumatrope? Watch
this video of my 'turning marvel' in action to find out!
I was
thinking about Claude Monet's Charing Cross Bridge, London, which you can
see at the Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Building when the Museum opens for
the season on May 12! Tune in next time, and I'll show you a fun art
activity based on Monet's fabulous painting.
Did you get a chance to see the rebus puzzle I created for the last post? If you want to learn how to solve a rebus puzzle and try it out for yourself, click here.
Were you able to solve it? Here is my answer!
See You In The Spring!
Great job for your efforts in solving this puzzle!
Making a rebus is just as fun as solving one. Start by making up a simple sentence to change into a rebus. Look at each word in the sentence and try to find a word or image you can have stand in for the word.
In my puzzle above, the image of the ewe stands in for 'you', while 'T+[image of hen] - N' translates into 'the'. An even easier way to make your own rebus is using cutouts of images and letters from old magazines and newspapers to spell out your sentence. See what best inspires you!
Would you like to share your rebus creation? Either post your puzzle in the comments section or send it to me at webby@shelburnemuseum.org for a chance to see it in a future post!
Be sure to solve the all-new rebus puzzles at my Dive In site at Shelburne Museum's Schoolhouse!
The Museum will open for the season on May 12, 2013.
Since we have had some frosty days for the past couple of weeks, I've spent my time indoors staying warm and preparing my Dive In cards for the upcoming season. I'm happy to say that I just finished adding all-new rebus puzzles for the Schoolhouse!
A rebus uses symbols, pictures, letters, or even numbers to look like a word. These puzzles were popular activities in schoolhouse books during the 1800s because children enjoyed solving them and teachers thought they were a good exercise for the brain. What kind of games does your teacher hand out at school?
One of my favorite rebus puzzles is this one from the late 1800s (click on the image if you would like to see it in more detail):
Can you see how the letters and pictures spell out "May I see you home my dear?" I solve a rebus by sounding out each letter and image over and over until the answer starts to appear.
Inspired by a little message brought by a certain groundhog, here is a rebus I came up with on my own. Read the puzzle as you would read a sentence and see if you can sound it out:
(Hint: Do you know what a female sheep and chicken are called? Ask a family member or a friend to help you if you're feeling stuck.)
Think you have the right answer? Post your rebus answer in the comments section, or write me your answer at webby@shelburnemuseum.org. I will post the answer at the end of this week!
