We did our first art project from this book. Copying the technique of artist, Giotto, from the 1200's, we created our own paint by mixing egg yolk and a little water with some finely ground up minerals, berries, etc. (chalk, in our case).
The boys searched out some round stones to use for grinding. We got out different colors of chalk ends that had collected in the bottom of our bag of sidewalk chalk. We used some old bowls and the boys had a great time grinding, grinding the chalk into powder.
We had six different colors by the time we were tired of grinding.
Mixing in the egg yolk and stir, stirring.
The boys were delighted with this idea of making "our own" paint. They enjoyed it much more than I anticipated. Something about childhood, I guess, that is fascinated with figuring out the origins of things. On their own they have "made" many things that I remember making when I was little too (perfume, clay bowls from clay they've dug up, etc.) 
Displaying the egg paintings. Didn't the red come out nice and bright? Ben wasn't feeling well and didn't paint a picture. Amelia sort of did and wanted to be included in this picture even though (ahem) she dressed herself and did her own hair that day!
2 comments:
I've known of that book for a while and I've been wanting to get it. I'm a little weak in the arts and crafts area. This really looks like a great project. Morgan and Erin would love it. Thanks for blogging about this. :-) Helped to finally push me to get a book like this that would be a help in the area of schooling I feel weak in.
I absolutely love this. What fun and a great way to learn art history.
Kathy
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