Like most kids I know, my children love to create art. But I’m not confident in my artistic abilities, so I take my children to art activities at the local library or sign them up for art classes in the area. However, sometimes our schedule is full and our budget doesn’t have room for an additional course. When that happens, what can a homeschool mom do?

Enter YouTube! I regularly turn to YouTube to find instructional art videos I can use with my elementary age children. There are many great channels on YouTube, but one of my favorite channels is maintained by an art teacher named Mr. P. His YouTube channel, Mr P Studios, is fabulous!

My kids enjoy Mr. P because he’s entertaining and funny, but I enjoy him because he creates gorgeous art projects I can easily recreate here in our homeschool. I also love Mr. P’s channel because I think it is important for Black homeschoolers to see instructors that look like them.

If you’re looking for some fun and easy to recreate art projects you can add to your homeschool, I encourage you to stop by Mr P Studios. Take a sneak peek at his channel by viewing this awesome lesson on African Pottery Drawing.

In my post, Discovering African-American Artists, I explained how I was planning to incorporate more art activities into our homeschool. One of my specific goals was to introduce the girlies to several African-American artists and have them replicate the artists’ styles throughout the year.

We recently began our study by learning about the life and art of Horace Pippin, a man who found artistic subject matter in daily life, family, familiar objects, memories, and personal hardship. Pippin painted in natural colors and then added his signature splash of red to most of his works. You can introduce your children to this amazing artist using the following lesson plan.

Part 1: Read about Horace Pippin.

Begin your study by reading this short online biography of Horace Pippin and then reading Starting Home: The Story of Horace Pippin, Painter by Mary E. Lyons. The book is a wonderfully descriptive work that introduces readers to Horace Pippin and vividly describes the hardships he faced. Though the book is a great resource for the homeschool mom, older students will benefit from reading it as well.

The younger crowd can also learn about Horace Pippin by reading A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin a Caldecott Award winning book by Jen Bryant. This is a marvelous book for elementary school students that describes Pippin’s life and highlights his most famous works in an engaging and easy to read format.

Be sure to ask questions about how Horace Pippin’s circumstances (winning the art contest, going off to war, losing the function of his arm, keeping a detailed journal, etc.) shaped his career.

Part 2: Watch a video that showcases Horace Pippin’s work.

Watch this YouTube video which includes a great slideshow featuring Pippin’s works. Have your children talk about each work and see if they can find Pippin’s signature splash of red within each work. (If the video is not visible, try refreshing the page.)

Part 3: Learn about still life painting.

Horace Pippin created still-life paintings. Such paintings feature an arrangement of inanimate everyday objects or natural objects such as food or flowers. Teach children more about this technique by visiting this page, Still Life Paintings and Drawings over at Art Is Fun.

After your child has a firm understanding of the still life technique, visit this WikiArt page to view Pippin’s gorgeous painting, The Warped Table. Have your child study it for a bit and then talk about the characteristics of still life paintings.

Part 4: Paint like Horace Pippin.

Set up a still life subject for your child to paint. Remember, still life paintings often use everyday objects, so look around the house for suitable and interesting subjects. I used a simple planter (ours incorporates a great big splash red!), a couple of bright pumpkins, a golden colored plate, and an old rolling pin.

Next, set up the paper on an easel or attach the paper to a wall. Instruct children to lightly sketch the scene on a large sheet of paper. Then have them go back and use water colors to bring the picture to life. Horace Pippin lost the use of his right arm due to a war injury, but still managed to paint by using his left hand to hold up right wrist. To help the girls understand how hard it was to do this, I required them to paint a portion of their painting using this technique.

Children can paint using any water color set, but I prefer to use these dry and chalk-like water color disks. They last a very long time and I find that a little bit of color goes a very long way. (I purchased this palette at Walmart for about $12, but unfortunately I cannot find the brand name anywhere on the palette.)

 Part 5: Display that gorgeous work of art!

Once finished, allow your artist to display her fine masterpiece in a prominent place!

In years past, art has been a subject that hasn’t gotten much attention in our homeschool. We’d do an occasional project here or there, but that was the extent of our artistic endeavors. Our lack of artistic interaction is not because I do not value art. It’s just a subject we hit after we finish up the major subjects and if we have time.

This school year I have turned over a new leaf. I’m making time for art by using a great DVD based art curriculum (Home Art Studio) and doing more detailed art studies. However, one of my more specific goals is to introduce my girls to several African-American artists, so I’ve decided to incorporate an African-American artist’s study several times throughout our school year.

If you’d like to do such a study, but are not sure where to start, I’ve got a fantastic recommendation for you!  Come Look With Me: Discovering African American Art for Children by James Haywood Rolling Jr. is a fabulous resource featuring twelve different African-American artists (Palmer Hayden, Clementine Hunter, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Charles Alston, Aaron Douglas, Sarah Albritton, William H. Johnson, Hughie Lee-Smith, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Ellis Wilson, and Romare Bearden).

Each chapter discusses a different artist and includes a print of one of the artist’s most famous works, three to six questions to get children to talk and think about the artwork, and a short artist’s biography. Though the book can be used alone, it can also be used as a springboard to help children create great works of art and serve as a source of field trips find the artists’ works in museums.

Now that I’m inspired, I’m ready to begin our art excursion and I hope you’ll join me. Throughout the year, I’ll be back to introduce the artist were learning more about in our study. I know my girls are going to love what I have planned and I think your children will too. Gather your art supplies and check back regularly!

My girls love to draw. Unfortunately, God gave them a mother whose drawing prowess is limited to the creation of stick people. Though my stick people are quite fabulous, my girls need a bit more drawing instruction than I can provide.

Since I’m in need of help, you can imagine how excited I was when Kathy Wilson contacted me to tell me about her website We Draw Animals. Kathy’s website is awesome! It features detailed drawing tutorials of over five hundred (yes 500!) amazing animals. Some animals are warm and fuzzy, like the panda, rabbit, and fox, while other animals, like the dolphin and shark, are wet and wild. Kathy even has tutorials for kids who love creeping crawling creatures such as snakes and spiders!

You can have your children use the We Draw Animal tutorials for recreational drawing, but I plan to incorporate the artwork into our curriculum. Our first unit study focuses on Egypt, so I’m planning to add her tutorials on African animals to my lesson plans. You might also choose to study animal habitats (tundra, dessert, tundra, grassland) and draw the animals that live in each habitat.

Check out Kathy’s easy to follow tutorial, How to Draw an Elephant in 6 Easy Steps. If you like what you see, head over to Kathy’s site for more tutorials and to download a free copy of her ebook.