Free Valentine Lessons: A Lovely Afternoon of Art and Music

Art and music are a perfectly beautiful combination for Valentine’s Day or any appreciation of romanticism. We have a Valentine’s Day gift for you – a lovely afternoon of art and music! My friend Mary Prather is offering a SQUILT lesson of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture. To accompany this wonderful music, Nana and I have a chalk pastel art tutorial for you! Free Valentine lessons…

The combination of music appreciation from Homegrown Learners and art lessons from Hodgepodge comes about as a suggestion from fellow homeschoolers. Families who have already been enjoying SQUILT lessons and chalk pastel art tutorials together for lovely afternoons. These families have dubbed these lovely learning times SQUASTELS.

Free Valentine Lessons: A Lovely Afternoon of Art and Music

So, we invite you to please settle in for visit with us. For our chalk pastel art lesson, I turn it over to Lucia Hames, a.k.a., Nana…

Valentine Tree Chalk Pastel Art Lesson

Today we are going to paint a “February treat”….a Valentine Tree!  It is very simple to make your own tree and put a favorite person’s name or initials right in the middle of the tree trunk.  I will tell you a secret, the name on my Valentine tree is…my favorite friend, my dog, Dooley!  I love him and he loves me, especially when I give him a treat!

The pastel colors that you will need are: medium brown, dark brown or black, light green, light blue and dark blue.  Let’s start!

Tree: Draw a long, sort of bumpy line for the left side of the tree, then, almost like your hand, draw several limbs for the tree.  Now, this is a big tree, nice and wide, so the limbs can be wide too.  I think about four or five limbs are enough, and they disappear out of sight at the top of your paper.

Sky: Take your dark blue and just skim some blue at the top of the page and around the upper limbs.  Then take your light blue and lightly skim the blue all the way to the ground.

Grass: Your light green comes next, make the Spring green grass close to the tree and around the roots of the tree.

Tree details: The medium brown can be used to fill in the tree…use your finger to smudge the color in evenly.  Take your black and draw long lines lightly on the tree so that you will have some texture for the trunk.

Hints of branches: Pick up your medium brown pastel, turn it over until you have one of the sharp edges and put it down on your drawing paper. If you quickly make a short straight line it will resemble a young twig or tree limb!

Spring buds: Down south, sometimes by Valentine’s Day we are already experiencing spring. So use your light green and make some tiny green leaves, just mostly tiny round circles. (But of course, you may change the tree to fit any season. A tree full of green leaves for summer. Some gorgeous orange, yellow and reds for fall!)

Heart: Don’t forget to put a special name or initials inside your heart carved in the middle of the trunk! Carefully do this and try not to smudge the name.  If you do, it is ok, you can just smooth the color out with you finger and put the initials down again.

What a wonderful job that you have done on your Valentine Tree! And, you add an inviting swing hanging from a limb. You can change the colors that I used to others that you might like better. This is YOUR painting and you are the one painting it!  Remember always:  You ARE an artist!  Great work!  ~ Love always, Nana

• Be sure to head over to enjoy a visit with Mary at Homegrown Learners. Enjoy her free SQUILT lesson, pin it and share it with your friends!
• Mary and I have also started a Pinterest board with resources and ideas for Afternoons of Music and Art Appreciation.

You might also like:

• Heart Collage: Mixed Media Acrylic
• Composers Video Art Lessons
• Tea Time Art Lessons
• Spring Video Art Lessons

Featuring You! You ARE an Artist!

So, paint your Valentine Tree and be sure to share with us! Simply tag @chalkpastelart on social media, use the #YouAREanArtist hashtag, or upload a photo to the ChalkPastel.com Facebook page!

• A note on chalk pastels: Pastels are an easy, forgiving medium. Fun for children and adults alike! Details on the pastels and paper we use, how and where to purchase, and links to all of Nana’s other pastel lessons are here: Our Favorite Chalk Pastels
• The practical aspects of a mess: Pastels are blessedly messy. We always have baby wipes close by to wipe hands. We wear something we don’t mind getting stained or don a smock.

Do you and your artists learn best with a video art tutorial? Join Nana in the You ARE an Artist Clubhouse for a huge library of lessons at ChalkPastel.com!

We hope you enjoy a lovely afternoon of music and art! Happy Valentine’s Day from Hodgepodge and Homegrown Learners!

-originally published 2014