Art Book: How to Build Lego Cars

 Do you love building with Lego?   Do you see it for the art form that it is?  Yes, it's STEM and building and engineering, but ... it is also an art form.   You can really see it in these magnificantcars that Peter Blackert helps you design in How to Build Brick Cars.   

Oh...these aren't your standard lego cars...these are master builder cars that go on to inspire you to model your own creations. 

Art Book: Beasts from Bricks

Oh, who doesn't like to build with lego?  I spent hours as a child playing with lego and have had lots of fun playing with my boy child...though the older he gets the more he keeps himself busy with other things and plays less with his mama.  BUT this book is cool!  Making animals from around the world, using the designs in Beasts from Bricks.  It's great!

Art Book: Duct Tape Engineer

I know you have already gotten a bit of a preview of the fact that my boy likes to build with duct tape. I KNOW I have shown you pictures of his knight's outfit.  He is my duct tape engineer!   So when the chance came to review "Duct Tape Engineer" I thought WOW...this is a book made for me and my lad.

The Duct Tape Engineer: The Book of Big, Bigger and Epic Duct Tape Projects is filled with things that the lad and I want to build, even dad poked his head in and said "neat idea".  We haven't, at this point, actually built any of the items in the book to their full size, but we did build some mini versions of them.  :)

That Mad, Monkish Architect!

This is Gaudi  is a book I reviewed about Antoni Gaudi, people either loved him or hated him, and in this tome we learn why.  :)  Author Mollie Claypool walks us through his life, his formation of ideas, and the work that he did. 

I found it a bit different that this biography had no table of contents, it dove right into telling us about Gaudi, and continued to just walk us through his life.

Art Book: Fine Art Adventures

What would you do if I told you that you could explore 18 different masterpieces with your student, using those 18 masterpieces as inspiration for doing 3 different art projects with students 6 years old and up?   Wouldn't that just peak your interest?   It certainly did mine.   Today I would like to introduce Fine Art Adventures by Maja Pitamic and Jill Laidlaw.

Art Book: Wild Garden

 Do you remember A Hand Lettered Life from last week?   This is another in the Scratch and Create Series that I thought you might like to know about.   Wild Garden is a set of postcards, making them ideal work on anywhere you find yourself needing to wait around and the finished product makes an excellent quick thank you gift for those you meet along the way.

Art Book: Hand Lettered Life

 Today I have a bit of a different book for you.  You know how sometimes I like to look at Adult Colouring Books?  Well today I have a new format of a 'colouring book' for you, called a Scratch and Create.  This one is called Hand Lettered Life and was put together by Shandra Smith.

Art Book: Art Up Close

Wow! I really like this art book. It's called Art Up Close. Despite the fact that it has no art to draw or to inspire, my lad even likes it! 

I have to tell you all the details about this marvellous book, and truly it is a GOOD book.

Art Book: CatDoodles

Do you like cats? Do you like to doodle as a way to relax? Well, let me tell you about this fun little book that crossed my desk today. Catdoodles. The Cat Loves Drawing book. 

Now mind me here.. if cats are TOTALLY not your thing, this is not the book for you.  BUT if you are like my boy and think cats are well... the cat's meow.. then this book just might appeal to you as a doodler.  

Fun Friday: Mudworks Part One

Did you know that I am teaching an art class at my homeschool groups Co-op days?   The class is called Mudworks.

I have this cool book (called Mudworks) that I did a art book post on... hold on while I find that. Ah, here it is.  Anyways, when I looked at this book I thought, how much run would it be to do this with a mixed ages class, so when HOPE days came up  I said SURE, I'll do this!  :)

Art Book: Kawaii Doodle Class

Kawaii Doodle Class is a fun softcover book, that was a pleasure to review.  This book is all about creating cute images from food, drink, nature, monsters, everyday items and more. Zainab Khan shows us how to give these items a cute outlook on life and faces with character. 

Art Book: Playful Painting Pets

Let's say you have a pet and you like to paint, but you look at said pet and say "I dunno, How can I show off that silky fur?"   Faye Moorhouse comes to your rescue in Playful Painting: Pets. 

Art Book: It's Great to Create

Jon Burgerman has created a really fun art book for us to use.  Coming up with 101 creative exercises for anyone to do as they play around doing art.

Art Book: Making Amazing Art

Did you know that art has seven different elements to it?
Can you name them all?

Art Book:1 2 3, I Can Sculpt

 1,2,3, I Can Sculpt is colourful book geared to helping your young ones have fun creating sculptures.  The book starts off explaining what a sculpture is

"a piece of art that has more than one side to look at".

Isn't that just the most straight-forward definition of a sculpture that you have heard?

Art Book: Stick Sketch School

I want you to imagine that you have just taught your children about this amazing animal called the blob fish.  It comes out of Tasmania, and you asked your children to draw a picture of it and they give you a blank look... How can you help them draw this amazing fish?   Well, if you have the Stick Sketch School book it will be easy peasy.. just turn to page 86 and before you know it your children will have created a beautiful image of the blob fish.  :)   Might be a sketch figure but it will be "beautiful" enough to colour in and create an underwater world.

Allow me now to introduce you to a wonderful book called "Stick Sketch School"

Art Book: Mudworks

Today I have a rather different art book to show you.  It's called "Mudworks: Creative Clay, Dough and Modeling Experience". 

 This is a rather neat book, seriously.

Art Book: A First Book of Canadian Art

A First Book of Canadian Art was put together by Richard Rhodes.

It's a rather interesting book that is not about doing art, but about seeing what Canadian artists have done. It's a walk through history from First Peoples through to the 1990's. 

Art Book: StickerBomb Journal Galaxy

Know what I was doing the other day?   Cleaning off book shelves.  Oh my!  It was amazing the books I pulled off and said "I don't need to keep this book".  So out it went.   A good 10 of them were space exploration books, my son is done exploring space so they headed off to the book sale.

When I brought in the mail, this little gem was in the packet from Raincoast.  I looked and thought hmm.. odd little sticker book and then I REALLY looked at it and noticed..it's not a sticker book, it has sticker for personalization, but it's really a journal.   How cool would this have been for my boy to use while we were studying space!!

He could have jotted down notes, drawn pictures, pasted in images and what not.  It would have been all contained in one neat looking space oriented journal.

The page quality is wonderful.  Thick without being cumbersome, and 128 pages!!!   So much room seriously!    Even if you didn't want to use it as part of a study, it's a great journal just for jotting down notes and what not. 

Four pages of stickers are included to personalize the cover.  That's over 100 stickers to use to make this journal your own.   I didn't test to see if the stickers can be removed and reapplied, so if getting it you'd need to test that out on your own. 

My thoughts:
It's a really nice journal, geared toward children, that would be just lovely for jotting down thoughts, or using as a notebooking spot when doing a space unit study.  :)

StickerBomb Journal: Galaxy 
Designed by SRK
Published by Laurence King
Pages: 128
Age: any
Approximately 6 x 8 inches.

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books

This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time .

Art Book: The Girl Who Drew Butterflies

When I first got The Girl who Drew Butterflies I thought cool.. an art book!  I'll get to see lots of pictures of butterflies and be totally amazed.   Little did I know the wonder and joy I would experience when I realized that it was not only an art book but it was also a science book.  A way to combine two loves!  It's GREAT!!!!

Imagine you live in a time when people aren't sure where bugs come from, and no one can really answer the questions of a curious girl child.  Maria, who helped her step-father, Jacob Marrel, with his artistry. He liked to draw still life pictures and Maria would often bring in flowers for him to draw, and found the insects that crawled on them fascinating. 

Her interest was fostered as her step-dad was also interested in the insects as he thought they made his pictures come to life, so she was sent out to gather more for him. 

Maria was so curious about where all these insects came from but no one really knew where they came from.   Perhaps from mud or old clothes?    Marel taught Maria the tools of the trade, teaching her everything he knew. But Maria's mind was captured by the insects around her and she burned to discover the answers to her questions.

She started with silkworms. Watching everything, drawing it too.

Jotting down everything she could. Asking questions, seeking out the answers to her beloved insects.  Learning how to do this AND fulfill the role destined for her by society.

This is a fascinating book.

I learned so much about what was going in the day.  Witch hunts...seeking after women who varied from what society expected of them.  Women had to be so careful in what they did.  Not receiving recognition for the work they did, yet contributing mightily to society around them.

Gradually society shifted opinions, and just as gradually Maria became known as the caterpillar lady.

She learned, and documented how all moths and butterflies went through the same transformation.



Ah... I want to tell you all that I learned but that would spoil the book for you it would!  It's just a neat book, really.  I so enjoyed it.   Seeing her determination to stick to her love of insects, her patience .. biding her time, watching, observing, starting over, and her stepping out with what she knew.  

She led a fascinating life and ended up drawing/painting so many pictures with plants and their insects.   Showing the world their beauty as she could best show it.

She was simply a fascinating lady, well focused on her life's passion, and so determined to see it through.

To see all the she saw and be able to document everything... so fantastic!

Read the book, be inspired.  See art teach science something new.

The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Marian's Art Changed Science.
Joyce Sidman
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
160 pages.
Age: 10-12 

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books
 

Where can you get it?

Amazon.ca: The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science

Amazon.com: The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science

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This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool - thank you! ©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time . We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites