National Gallery of Art

I think this picture is hands down my favorite of the whole trip. She was sitting, concentrating so hard at sketching her own version of this painting. I just thought it was so cute to see this little tiny girl sit down on the floor and give this beautiful painting all her attention. Although her love for art and beautiful things and her need for perfection make her a little frustrated. In the end she was a little disheartened and erased the whole thing, but i love that she made such a honest effort. I tried to explain to her that art is interpretive and that hers does not need to look exactly the same as the one she is looking at, that she can be inspired by art without making a exact replica. She does love coloring those detailed Dover coloring books. I hope we can encourage her love of art this school year.

Mitch and Chris were studying this painting, searching for all of the smallest details. There were little ants(aphins, as mitch calls them), spiders, butterflies, snails, moths, and more, as well as a reflection of a window in the vase in the painting. It was very cool.

Avery was sketching again in this picture. Before we left for DC that morning i made a few sketch books for the kids(same as here) so that they could draw what they saw or in some cases whatever moved them...i think mitch made a few monsters, as did Grant. We had their attention for the start of the museum while we were on a "treasure hunt" for famous paintings. The night before Aunt Colleen took out all her postcard sized art cards and let all the kids choose several that appealed to them and then they carried those with them and their sketchbooks. Mitch and Avery were both very fond of Renoir, Monet and many other famed impressionist painters. It was such a great way to get them excited about the art and interested in what they were seeing. I highly recommend going to your nearest art museum, going to gift shop and getting some art cards of the paintings they have there and then go on a treasure hunt of your own. In fact Mitch was better at spotting his than i was. Many times we would walk into a gallery and he would spot his and match them to his cards even before i could turn around. He has a good eye my little man.