Category Art

The Concept

As a family, we make it a point to explore something new and intriguing wherever we go, often seeking out historical sites or unique points of interest that are off the beaten path. However, not everything captures our children’s attention equally. This inspired me to conceive a project: what if I created a story to accompany our adventures, bringing the experiences to life and sparking their imaginations? After all, much of the excitement lies in how an experience is presented. And so, our adventure stories were born, eventually evolving into a collection that we now proudly call our family adventure journal!

The Approach

Initially, I aimed to create several stories to get the kids excited about activities like nature walks or visits to places that aren’t centered around games and activities they usually gravitate toward. We crafted simple stories to highlight points of interest in a fun way, featuring talking creatures and a touch of innocent magic. These elements, familiar yet tailored to our real-world adventures, helped bridge the gap between the digital and natural worlds.

By focusing each story on an adventure, I began directing their attention to specific things, like the wonder of a natural feature or the significance of a historical event. To make these moments even more special, I included related materials. Initially, I worked in reverse, matching these materials to upcoming activities and adding Adventure Journal entries and artwork afterward. The plan is to prepare these stories in advance, creating a collection of potential adventures for them to explore as we embark on our next journeys.

Engagement and Follow Through

This project requires dedication, so I’m developing a background for the journal itself, ensuring a seamless transition from fictional characters to stories tailored to our family activities. I’m also finding ways to capture our children’s experiences in their own words as they grow, creating a cherished family keepsake that we can enjoy for years to come.

The Beginnings … 

It begins a little something like this…

• Start with a Journal that will last for some time, have space to expand and is something that you find aesthetically pleasing. Etsy has some great Handmade Journal options if you need some inspiration! Remember size does matter, smaller journals that are more for personal use may not work. Here is what we chose to use. The one shown below was purchased from reimaginedonline.

• Having already created the backstory, I can weave some of those elements into the initial pages, for this please visit our Adventure Journal Page.
• Create your first set of adventures but base them on fictional characters your children can relate to.
• Make the Journal into an Art project!

• Be sure to leave room for your kids to add their thoughts and experiences, whether this is a set of pages set aside for them, or have them write a short letter that you can insert into an envelope pasted inside the pages. (Note: if you are starting this with very young kids, you may have to complete this part until they can do it on their own, may be a fun way to capture your memories as well.)
• Share with your kids, and let them help you plan the next set of adventures that they will get to participate in.

In the realm of digital art creation, artists are continually seeking innovative tools that enhance their creative processes. MidJourney and Adobe Firefly are two such AI tools that cater to the needs of digital artists, albeit with distinct approaches and features. This article aims to compare and contrast these platforms to help artists make informed decisions based on their specific requirements and preferences.

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Recently, I attended an immersive experience that was focused on the art of Vincent Van Gogh. The experience itself was extremely well done and if you have the opportunity I highly recommend that you buy a ticket. Watching the art flow from period to period throughout his wide variety of Art brought to mind the feelings that I always have when looking at his artwork.

His obsession with color, the powerful symbolism that it could represent, and the emotional impact it can invoke in people have a palpable effect on the audience. Surprisingly, it is a quote from the Dr. Who TV show that I feel has best represented his artwork in my mind compared to other studies of his life and creative works.

To me Van Gogh is the finest painter of them all. Certainly the most popular, great painter of all time. The most beloved, his command of colour most magnificent. He transformed the pain of his tormented life into ecstatic beauty.

Pain is easy to portray, but to use your passion and pain to portray the ecstasy and joy and magnificence of our world, no one had ever done it before. Perhaps no one ever will again. To my mind, that strange, wild man who roamed the fields of Provence was not only the world’s greatest artist, but also one of the greatest men who ever lived.

Curator Dr. Black, Bill Nighy, Dr. Who: “Vincent and the Doctor”

Art Samples

An Experience that you will not forget

Watching those majestic swirling brushstrokes emerge against the giant canvases also pulled out more of the same narrative and though my daughter may not remember it in the future, I felt privileged to share it with her.

Whispering to her: “Look at the sky. It’s not dark and black and without character. The black is, in fact, deep blue. And over there: lighter blue and blowing through the blues and blackness the winds swirling through the air and then shining, burning, bursting through… the stars! 

[the sky gradually transforms into van Gogh’s painting Starry Night]

And you see how they roar their light. Everywhere we look, the complex magic of nature blazes before our eyes.”

The wonder of artistic expression is not just in the result, but in the very act of its creation, what drives the emergence of an expression of emotion or ideas that are meant to spread to all those that see it.

With the combination of imagery and musical accompaniment the entire experience was entrancing, check out their site for details and location details, well worth the time and money.

https://vangoghclt.com/

Check out more interesting Art in our Art Category

It has been my experience that when you get the opportunity to view one of these masterpieces in person, you get a grander sense of how the art can affect each and every person that wanders through the gallery. For this particular piece, it is a very special reminder of a trip that my wife and I were lucky enough to take. We hadn’t intended to find this particular piece, it was just a mere happenstance that we found ourselves in the right place, the wonderful city of Vienna, Austria at the Belvedere Museum.

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Starting with the basics, because well, I rarely have had to go through a full story boarding experience, which is part of the reason I am doing it now. Practice! Some quick reference points for what a story board is meant to accomplish.

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I read many kids books with my daughter each night before she goes to sleep that I cant help but think that in some of the ones she likes best that there are some really great illustrations. One of her recent favorites is “The Little Snowflake” from IglooBooks, and with snow on the way I have become entranced with the designs within this tiny book. I have considered adapting the general theme of the book into some small videos for my daughter to enjoy, but before we get to that point, I am looking into possible character concepts which in this case are “snowflakes”.

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One of the more memorable art exhibits that I have experienced over the past few years was at the Art Institute of Chicago. My wife and I were traveling with friends and on a cold and rainy day in October, we had the pleasure to view many of the numerous master works on exhibit. One of the pieces that caught and held my attention was “The Old Temple” by Hubert Robert. While studying this particular painting I was unconsciously creating stories in my head that would fit the setting. What caused such a beautiful temple to fall into ruin and what would draw people there throughout the years? Of course it was something that my mind would not let go, so naturally I started looking into more of his works and his life as a natural extension of my intellectual curiosity.

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