** Don’t forget to enter the giveaway at the end of this review**
Look! Really Smart Art was written by Gillian Wolfe. I found this to be a really interesting book to read through, and am sure that young readers interested in art would find it interesting too.
This book looks at the ‘secret’ skills that artists use. In each of the 17 pictures of this book, the author shows how the artist has used a really smart trick-of-the-trade to tease, puzzle and open your eyes.
While reading through this book I was amazed at the small things that the author points out – it all seems so obvious when she does. It makes me wonder why on earth I’d not picked up on some of these artist’s tricks.
Not only do you get an ‘a-ha’ moment with each new picture, but you are studying some rather famous works and becoming familiar with 17 new artists throughout this book.
Another great feature is that each ‘chapter’ has an assignment for the children to do in order to practice the technique or ‘trick’ that they have just learnt about.
*I think that this would be a great book to use as an art course for one term.*
Once or twice a week you could look at a painting, read through the authors engaging text together and then create an art work to hang on your homeschool gallery wall :o)
Although this book is a children’s book, I don’t see why your upper middle to high school student wouldn’t benefit from it too. It is after all about learning new techniques to use in your artwork, and that is something that has no age constraints in the art world.
This wonderful book is published by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books. They have been kind enough to offer a copy of this book to one Curriculum Choice reader. If you would like a chance to add this book to your bookshelf just follow the rafflecopter instructions below.
Shirley Ann lives in the UK with her husband, two daughters, and two cats who think they rule the roost. She's a veteran homeschooler of 13 years and is passionate about home keeping, homeschooling, nature study, and seasonal living, Shirley regularly blogs about her Charlotte Mason-inspired homeschooling and British lifestyle on her blog, 'Building A Household of Faith'.
I would love to use this for our art curriculum. Thanks!
Love this!! My 10yo dd would greatly benefit from this. Thank you!
Shirley, what a wonderful review. This book looks fantastic! Thanks!
Looks like a fun book!
What a fascinating looking book! Art appreciation is definitely an area I need to work on with my children.
Looks like such a fun book! Definitely on my wishlist.
We go to the Museum of Art once a month for our art study. This book looks really great. It would be a wonderful resource!
I haven’t used art in my home school, but plan to in the fall with at least one of my children who is artistically inclined. Thanks!
More study of the masters.
We love art study at my house, but have slacked off over the past year. This looks like a terrific book….I love how it addresses the paintings by style and features.
This next year will be our first with any formal art. My eldest will be doing an artist study using Mike Venezia books. My youngest who just wants to “do art” will be using HomeArt Studio.
My 6yo DD would LOVE to use this art book for a semester!
My child loves drawing so we incorporate lots of the elements of drawing into art lessons.
my son would enjoy this. He loves art, and so do I
What a fantastic book! Would love for our library. Thanks!
This looks like a fascinating way to do artist studies. I always seem to struggle in this area.
We use Harmony Fine Arts for our curriculum- this would be a fun book to add in!
I will be homeschooling brand new in the fall, a 5th grader and kindergartener. I am looking for materials and wondering how to “fit” all this stuff in. Looks like this would be an easy way to begin incorporating art/introducing artists all at one time 🙂
I think this will be a great art study
This sounds like a great resource! Art is an area that doesn’t get enough time in our homeschool!
We like using Simply Charlotte Mason’s Picture Study Portfolios to study art. This book looks wonderful!
This looks awesome. My daughter would love this.
This sounds like a really interesting read! I also love the fact that it comes with projects to go along with the lessons. This sounds great for kids especially interested in art and for high school students interested in art history like I was. I would love to win a copy!
Love the look of this book! Will definitely be looking to pick it up!
Oh. My. Word! This is perfect! I must have it! 🙂
I want it! 🙂 It looks awesome!
We’ve used a variety of resources over the years, but I love it when we learn about the techniques artists use. This book looks wonderful!
There is a lot of info on the internet and going to the museum of course
This looks like a great way to make art appreciation fun.
We’re going to be studying Fine Arts with our co op an at home we will be using whatever books we can find. I would love to add this one to the list.
I’d like to incorporate art study into the study of different time periods within Europe, Russia, and America.
I would love to use this in our art curriculum
We are just getting started with art studies. This looks like a great resource to get us going.
Adding this to my daughter’s birthday list!
I hope to incorporate art project in our history program as well as a separate art program also.
Haven’t done any formal art studies yet but this looks like a fun place to start!
We haven’t done formal art study yet.
My daughters and I would love to explore this book together!