Your BEST Homeschool

The art and heart of homeschooling

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • About Us
  • Art Lessons
  • Blog
  • Tricia’s Book
  • Homeschool
  • Recipes
  • Shop
Home » Blog » You Can Be An Artist – Just Practice!

in Free Pastel Tutorials· HomeSchooling

You Can Be An Artist – Just Practice!

Pastel chalks are an easy and almost instantly rewarding way to introduce a student to creativity. And there is a simple answer – just practice.

Pastel chalks are an easy and almost instantly rewarding way to introduce a student to creativity. And there is a simple answer – just practice.

Using the chalks are often referred to as “painting” rather than drawing. Chalks are pure paint pigment. Yes, they are messy and stain your fingers when you use them. We’ve shared often here at Hodgepodge those gentle tips to help parents get over the mess. The simple steps for how to add art to your homeschool day. Also, how to start art with little ones.

Just Practice

“Well, I’m just not artistic,” you say. Just practice. Yes, you mama. The more often you get out the art supplies, the better you will feel about it. Just practice often. And this, in turn, will give your children the steady gift of practicing being an artist. See, with a bit of concentration, a brave stroke of green in the middle of a white sheet of paper can turn into a spring meadow with rolling hills. Landscapes are the best way to start your pastel art, as you will see in tomorrow’s post.

You Can Be an Artist watercolor painting

Pick up the pastel and draw

I have taken many years of classes in all sorts of art: watercolor, acrylics, pastels and basic drawing.  The most discouraging aspect of my learning experience was being told that I had the wrong brand of paint, the wrong colors of pastels and used the wrong type of paper or canvas.

Art CAN be very expensive, but the focus of my teaching is not brand names for the “utensils” or brushes, paints and chalk!  Start off any new type of art slowly and use the “student brand” of the supplies before investing in expensive supplies.  Get used to the medium first!  Find your joy in creating before focusing on the extras…..pick up that bright green pastel and paint a horizon line for your landscape.

You CAN Be an Artist just practice

Don’t Get Discouraged by the Work of Others

If a child is worried about what someone next to him is painting and how her picture looks more like a spring field of poppies, then he begins to miss pure creativity. Allow your children the freedom of painting by themselves if it is at all possible. Have your children take turns or divide your students up in separate rooms and see how they are forced to rely on their own resources to create.

chalk pastels on plain copier paper
Most pastel paintings only take about 15 minutes to complete, thus allowing more time to practice again. Start small, with plain copier paper, nothing any bigger.  You will find that practicing the same scene will allow you to get better and you will want to add tiny flowers in the field or scrubby trees in the distance. Enjoy!

You will see tomorrow how we – all of the children and adults at Hodgepodge – tried our very first chalk pastel tutorial again. Some three years after we originally shared this first tutorial, we wanted to see how our skills had developed. I hope you will be back tomorrow to see!

to paint is great fun at yourbesthomeschool.com

Just to paint is great fun. The colours are lovely to look at and delicious to squeeze out. Matching them, however crudely, with what you see is fascinating and absolutely absorbing. ~ Winston S. Churchill

Brought to you by these lovely ladies…

Hopscotch Spring 2013 Collage

Be sure to click over to see all the wonderful series of Spring Hopscotch posts by iHomeschool Network bloggers – 280 posts in all!

You CAN Be an Artist

Day 1: What is An Artist?

  • Don’t miss any of our You CAN Be an Artist series – subscribe to Hodgepodge and get your free, subscriber-only art tutorials!
  • Browse our art curriculum offerings at chalkpastel.com

Have you found that just getting out the supplies helps you and your children practice art?

Save

Related


Warning: Attempt to read property "icons" on null in /home/n0c986d/public_html/hodgepodge/wp-content/themes/restored316-market/functions.php on line 207

1 Comment

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Previous Post: « You Can Be An Artist! What is an Artist?
Next Post: You CAN Be An Artist! Paint Landscapes »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Phyllis at All Things Beautiful says

    April 16, 2013 at 7:47 AM

    Good advise!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Welcome!

Thanks for visiting! I'm Tricia and I've been homeschooling since 2000. I share the art and heart of homeschooling and help you bring joy, fun and freedom to your days. It’s a Hodgepodge! Read More…


Free Homeschooling Downloads

 

 

{FREE} Download, ebooks and subscriber-only art tutorials

Success! Please check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.




Get Tricia’s book!




Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Our Sister Websites





Art for All Ages



Categories

Follow Tricia Hodges | Hodgepodge's board Best of Hodgepodge on Pinterest.

Recent Comments

  • Hodgepodgemom on The Ultimate Guide to Fun Thanksgiving Activities for Your Homeschool
  • Dawn on The Ultimate Guide to Fun Thanksgiving Activities for Your Homeschool
  • Kim (thedaisymuse) on How to Host a Jane Austen Movie Night for Homeschool Moms
  • Irene Mutunga on A Lesson in Friendship from the Book of Job
  • Hodgepodgemom on How to Host a Jane Austen Movie Night for Homeschool Moms
  • Contact us
  • Best of Hodgepodge
  • Parenting
  • Healthy Mama
  • Essential Oils
  • Recipes

Copyright © 2008–2023 · Your BEST Homeschool, a Southern Hodgepodge, L.L.C. site. | DMCA Notice