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We love art!
Here are all our art appreciation lessons, art activities and downloads.
We follow a Charlotte Mason art appreciation approach ~
“Children should learn pictures, line by line, group by group, reading, not books, but pictures themselves … After a short story of the artist’s life … the pictures are studied one at a time. Children learn not merely to see a picture but to look at it, taking in every detail.”
Famous Artists
Featuring ~Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael Sanzio da Urbino, Sandro Botticelli, Anthony van Dyck, Johannes Vermeer, Francisco Goya, Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin, Peter Paul Rubens, Salvador Dali, Henry Moore, Jackson Pollock
- Famous Artists Wall Chart 2017 ~ includes a selection of my favourite famous artists, each with a brief biography and a gallery of 3 of their most famous artworks. This is a wonderful way to display the “Artist of the Month” in your homeschool.
- Famous Artist Biography page A biography notebook page with a map for art appreciation lessons.
- Biography Famous Artists Red_Blue for primary schoolers
- Biography Famous Artists Black Lines with Map
- Famous Artists Lapbook ~ This lapbook includes 18 of the most famous artists. featuring their masterpieces and a blank minibook. Your child can pick and choose how you wish to use each page. I have included an organized lapbook planner, complete with website links and extra application ideas.
Famous Impressionist Artists
Featuring ~ Edgar Degas, Vincent Van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Gauguin, Mary Cassatt, Paul Signac, Alfred Sisley, Camille Pissarro, Bertha Morisot
- Famous Impressionist Wall Chart 2017 ~ includes a selection of my favourite famous Impressionist artists, each with a brief biography and a gallery of 3 of their most famous artworks. This is a wonderful way to display the “Artist of the Month” in your homeschool.
- Famous Impressionist Artist Lapbook
For a lapbook or notebook & minibook combination, this versatile 18 page PDF package includes thumbnails of masterpieces, suggested activities, blank minibook templates and an organized lapbook planner for any option using minibooks. This download will offer enough material for the dedicated study of each artist and their works. - Blank Biography Famous Impressionist Artists ~ Our 13 featured artists on a blank page. Ideal for minibook combo!
- Primary Biography Famous Impressionist Artists ~ The 13 artists with red & blue & dotted grey lines in wider spaces for beginner writers
- Black line Biography Famous Impressionist Artists ~ As above with neat black and dotted grey lines for more mature writers.
Art Era Timeline Page
The Art Era Timeline is a very comprehensive overview, with dates, eras, famous artists of each movement and a thumbnail example of their most eminent works. Different eras are on separate pages.

Due to the size of the Art Era Timeline file, I have divided the file into 4 downloads:
- Art Era Timeline 1 Pre-Renaissance-18thC ~9-page download
- Art Era Timeline 2 19thC – Late 19thC ~ 14-page download
- Art Era Timeline 3 Early 20th C – Modern ~11-page download
- Art Era 4 Timeline Modern ~ A large file – 18 pages
- Simple Famous Artist Timeline ~ perfect for middle schoolers
- Art and Music Timeline ~ a parallel view of Music and Art Eras combined in a simpler timeline:
- Print out and bind as is, or add to a Book of Centuries
- Cut and paste the pages side-by-side/ under each other as an art timeline. (It’ll be huge!)
- Add artwork thumbnails to a timeline on a wall.
- Cut the artworks and paste them on cards and let children match the artists to the eras.
Art Appreciation Lessons
(Click on the links below the images for the post with all the links, free download and lesson ideas.)
Famous Artists
Paul Klee
Here is your free download ~ Paul Klee bio & gallery & art lessons

- “Word Art” with free grid download

Gustav Klimt



Leonardo da Vinci

- Leonardo Pastel Portraits with free sketch outline

- Leonardo’s Baby Sketches with sketch downloads.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder

- Bruegel’s Wedding Feast with an outline drawing
Pablo Picasso




Henri Matisse



Jackson Pollock

Georgia O’Keeffe

- Cow Skull and Roses
- Georgia O’Keeffe paintings with her famous quotes with biography page
- Free download ~ Georgia O’Keeffe quotes and gallery
- Georgia O’Keeffe Quotes

Albert Bierstadt in pastels


John Singer Sargent


William Adolphe Bouguereau

- Wonderful Works of William Adolphe Bouguereau with biography and gallery of his works
Mondrian

- Mondrian Inspiration
Johan Vermeer

Vincent Van Gogh




George Seurat


Visit Notebooking Fairy for some free notebooking pages Pointillism on Seurat
Paul Cezanne

Claude Monet

Henri Toulouse-Lautrec

Camille Pissarro

Mary Cassatt

Paul Gauguin

Paul Signac


Alfred Sisley

Berthe Morisot

- Berthe’s Woman Sewing in Her Garden

Edouard Vuillard

- Mending a Stocking – Another Vuillard Art Appreciation Lesson
Contemporary Artists
Julia Anastasopoulos ~ South African illustrator, designer and artist. You can find her art under her name Knolc on Behance.

Alisa Burke is an awesome contemporary artist! She shares her art, sketchbook pages, ideas, tutorials and inspiration on her blog alisaburke.blogspot.com.


Street Art Appreciation Lesson – Banksy and Stik inspired street art

Jane Davenport and our “Beautiful Faces Tutorial” inspired art experience ~

Loretta Grayson’s at her blog Shoebox of Photographs and the blog post of our tutorial experiences.

Pop over to see her free tutorial and read our Loretta Grayson Inspired Art Lesson
Marjolein Bastin
Marjolein Bastin is a Dutch-noted nature artist, writer, children’s author and illustrator.

Other Art Lessons
“365 Things to Draw and Paint” Usborne Activities by Fiona Watt (ISBN 978-1-86806-319-2)

This book revived my 10-year-old’s love for art! All the lessons are simple, non-threatening and FUN! Read our posts ~
“Drawing with Children” by Mona Brookes

Read my blog post ~ Warm-Ups Works!
Download a free pdf. version of her chart ~ The 5 basic elements of shape Starting a Still Life
South African Artist

Art Appreciation – using a grid to enlarge a Pierneef painting
I hope these art lessons inspire you to give art a try in your homeschool! 🙂
I’d love to hear from you ~ if you have enjoyed a download, need advice or just wish to contact me, please feel free to write. I will respond to your private email via the contact form on my About Me page. 🙂
Blessings, Nadene

I love your Art Era timeline, any possibility of extending it from Prehistoric to Pre-Renaissance? I would LOVE a complete Art timeline! Thank you.
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Thank you @Wendy Zucker. I’m really not sure if I will re-visit or update this timeline at this time, sorry.
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Thank you! I have been struggling getting art appreciation into our schedule but this makes it so easy!
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Oh, I am so glad this helps make your approach to art appreciation easy, @Krystal! Enjoy!
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Thank you SO MUCH for the combined art and music timeline. I was looking for one the other day and couldn’t find anything I liked. Yours is perfect — just what I wanted. Bless you!
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I just found your blog and really appreciate all of the free art goodies! Thank you so much for your generosity in sharing! 🙂
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I have been spending hours looking through your many posts! You are amazing. I cant seem to download the Famous artist wall chart or any other of the links for famous artists. Am I doing something wrong? Any help would be appreciated! Thank you so much
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@Kyli Call, I’ve checked and fixed all the broken links (don’t know whay that happened) and you can click the download link which will open on a new tab. Please email me if you have any problems and I will email you the download.
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Hello! I don’t see anything under your artists lapbook, is this no longer available? Looks like a great resource!
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@Crystal, ifyou scroll down a little under Famous Artists on this page, you will find the Famous Artist Lapbook.Click the title for your download.
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Thank you so much for all your hard work and for sharing it!!! Love your website!
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i think you did a Wonderfull job here,and thank you from the heart,god bless you
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Hallo Miss Nadene i had a idea for art work. i was thinking maybe we could do something like this….
It is an example of something my brother did – it’s a code of arms picture. Sorry, I can’t paste the picture in here. How can I send you my picture?
Blessings Lina
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Miss Nadene, thank you for what you said in another comment about children not minding unfinished art. I have a son, will be 6 in June. He gets excited about the art projects then some go unfinished. One of my biggest flaws has always been unfinished projects as well. I’ve been trying to keep him focused on finishing things but it feels like I’m nagging & taking the fun away. I mentioned it to my husband & he said he remembered being excited about starting art projects but not finishing some, not to worry. I just wanted to develop better habits for my son than I’ve had to learn to master (and still struggle with at times). We also follow Miss Mason’s approach to home schooling, isn’t it the most loving environment to foster the excitement of learning and create lasting memories! I’ve found that a year round schedule works best for us with less curriculum and more fun, experiments & nature exploration in the Summer. What you’ve created here is amazing, thank you Ma’am for your hard work laying it out! Gives me a great reference to start a wonderful Spring/Summer of fun art. I’ll be looking forward to more from you & did sign up! Many Blessings.
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@Miss Sami, Thank you for your kind comments! It is wonderful how we as parents learn and grow along with our children on this homeschooling journey. Blessings in your art lessons and hove lots of fun!
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Great site… I am loving everything you do. One question though, do your children complete their art pictures in one sitting or do they finish them up throughout the week? I always thought that you were suppose to introduce a new picture every week but my children cannot seem to finish their art pictures by the time I am suppose to show them another one. Thanks for your advice!
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@Michelle, welcome! We mostly finish our art in one day. Because we set Fridays apart for Fine Art, we have hours available to do a leisurely lesson. Also, because I was a public school teacher, most my art lesson ideas are short enough to complete in one sitting. Just remember that art is individual and each person responds differently to the challenges that they encounter as they create! I would suggest the you encourage your kids to try complete their art the next day/ days so that the work is still fresh in their minds. Incomplete work is also fine. Young children don’t mind the end product being incomplete. They simply enjoy the process. Maybe you could adapt the art activity for your slower children. And if the whole family needs more time, then intentionally stretch your lessons and take more time! The new picture can always wait for another week 🙂
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Thank you. I am very grateful for your response.
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Thank you so much for sharing your ideas. This is my first year of homeschooling my kids and have been searching for ways to incorporate art.
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I found this on pinterest on accident and I can’t tell you how much I LOVE this. My girls are both very artistic and so I’d love to encourage them anyway I can! Thank you so much!!
http://thisfineday.com/
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I too found you on Pinterest. I was looking for some art exampls of different artists to show to my granddaughter. She will soon be 7, and she shows a talent and an eye for art that I want to encourage. I want her to learn, but I don’t want her to lose the fresh vision that she seems to have. Any recommendations on how to do that?
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It’s always fun to look at art ideas, see new ones and also say, “Hey, I’ve done that!”
Thanks for sharing the great Artists & Ideas!!
Marla
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Thank you so much Nadine for taking the time to first create the note pages and then to let us use them. Between you and jimmie all my notebooking needs are met! I’ll be using your blank ones to go with our study of Cimabue.
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I found you via Pinterest too — my older daughter is 5 and loves coloring and drawing, so I’m excited to give her some ideas (and gently let her know that there is no “right” way to make art). 🙂 Thanks for sharing your lessons!
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@formerlibrarianspice, welcome and enjoy!
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Came here via Pinterest, looking for the coloring pages. My hubby and I don’t have kids, but this will definitely be a resource for nieces and nephews in the future! We are both art buffs, and this will be a great way for us to share our love of art with future generations!
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Great stuff!! You are awesome! I will be coming back many times.
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Brilliant!!!!!!
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This is really nice! And helpful ideas too.
Adventures of a Homeschool Mom
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Love this for helping me plan our art appreciation coop next fall.
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Many thanks! Very nice idea.
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Hello Nadene, I stopped by your page looking for inspiration for my elementary art school projects. But when I saw the spelling of your name I had to leave a message!. My daughters’ name is also Nadene, It is so rare to see it with the older spelling she was so excited., thanks for your art lessons.I really like your VanGogh page.
Have a great day
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This looks wonderful! Thanks for sharing your work!
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Excellent work! You have really thought these lessons through. I’m a middle school art teacher and think you are wonderful! THANK YOU for sharing. LIFE is ART.
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Thank you for creating these lessons! I look forward to implementing your ideas.
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thank you so much for this, my Little Man already has lots of art surrounding him and he is a sponge, so can’t wait to use some of your tips and printouts
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what a wonderful website….I teach art and agree with your philosophy. ..x
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We Love Art!!! Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful gifts and ideas with the world!!
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This is fantastic!!!! Thank you so much for posting!
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How am I just now finding these??? Pinned it and sharing it via my Facebook page too. Thank you SO much!! 🙂
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Wow, oh wow!! This is so wonderful – your children have really accomplished some expressive tasks! they should feel proud. Nice work. My three year old son colors for five minutes, then organizes his crayons and fights them against ‘bad guys’ for half an hour! Not an artist so much 🙂 haha
thanks so much for sharing these! cheers, t
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@Tracey, thank you! Your son’s creativity is clearly awakened – he’s only 3 and already keeping himself happily creative for so long! Just gently give him time, creative opportunities and grace and he’ll amaze you with his artistic flair as he matures!
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My husband and I are big art geeks, so I was thrilled to find this page from Pinterest. I love it! My daughter is just getting into coloring and I want to start her out right. Thanks for sharing your hard work.
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I am very interested in the Artists and Composers, I think it will be so fun for my girls!! But I am curious, when working on your timeline, do you “teach” the composers and artists from the same time period?? This is something we have never done, our first year to think “out of the box” so to speak…so I am learning right along w/them!
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@Mandy, I use the timeline just for reference when we study an artist. Sometimes it helps to put the Famous Musicians/ Composers with famous Artists in eras on our timeline so that we can see periods of art and music (e.g.: Baroque, Romantic, Modern, impressionist). I love learning along with my kids too!
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Nadene, you really deserve this Versatile Blog Award:
http://web.me.com/kuitenbrouwer/Paula_Kuitenbrouwer/Be_Creative_Blog/Entries/2010/7/26_Thank_you_for_the_Versatile_Blog_Award.html
Enjoy!
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So sweet of you ~ thank you Paula!
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Thank you for sharing. I am getting lots of ideas for next year.
Ada
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