The First Thanksgiving

Jennie A. Brownscombe’s The First Thanksgiving, painted in 1914, appeared in Life Magazine and became the poster image of the first Thanksgiving. It shows the pilgrims and the Native Americans dining together, as friends, at one table. The priest is thanking God for the harvest and the good fortune of the Native Americans who taught them to grown corn, beans, and squash, and how to hunt.

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 to celebrate the pilgrims’ first successful harvest. The celebration lasted several days and included indoor and outdoor feasts. Sometimes the pilgrims and Native Americans ate together, as shown in Brownscombe’s painting, and sometimes they ate separately.

The pilgrims had managed to build themselves a few crude homes and the Native Americans built temporary housing for themselves while they attended the festivities. The log cabin in the background of the painting is a historical inaccuracy.

Click for paintings of the Signing of the Mayflower Compact and the Pilgrims’ Landing.
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Please notice that I have begun a links list on the right side of the page. You should check out Peter’s blog about Paris which includes beautiful photographs of the city, including its art. If you have a blog or website that you think relates to this one and would like me to link to you, please leave a comment or email at artsmarts4kids AT yahoo.com.

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My Current NaNoWriMo Word Count:

30030 / 50000 words. 60% done!

I’m on track again!!!!

Landing of the Pilgrims

Before the pilgrims went to shore near Cape Cod, Massachusetts, they signed the Mayflower Compact as you saw yesterday in Edward Percy Moran’s Signing of the Compact in the Cabin of the Mayflower. Today I’ll show you two paintings that show the pilgrim’s landing.

The first is William Forsby Halsall’s The Mayflower on her Arrival in Plymouth Harbor. Halsall has chosen the Mayflower as the main subject of his painting with the first group of pilgrims rowing to shore to begin their new lives. Halsall was born in 1841 in England and studied art in Boston. He specialized in fresco painting until he joined the Navy during the Civil War and fell in love with painting seascapes. This painting was completed in 1881.
In Henry A. Bacon’s Landing of the Pilgrims you can see the Mayflower in the distance as a few of its passengers unload from a lifeboat onto Plymouth Rock. Bacon was born in 1840 in Massachusetts and fought for the north in the Civil War. He studied art in Paris and went on to produce many paintings designed to tell a story, like this one painted in 1877. Notice the girl who is preparing to step from the boat. She is 15 year old Mary Chilton, said to have been the first pilgrim to set foot in the Massachusetts.
These two seem to be very accurate paintings of this historical event but there are others which do not follow the accounts we have of the landing. Henry Sargent’s Landing of the Pilgrims is one such painting. Here you see the Native Americans greeting (or confronting) the pilgrims as they land. This did not happen. It was about three months after the pilgrims landed when the Native Americans approached them for the first time.
Next week: paintings of the first Thanksgiving, plus Thanksgiving craft projects!

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My Current NaNoWriMo Word Count:

24421 / 50000 words. 49% done!

So close to being caught up!

Signing of the Compact by Edward Percy Moran

Thanksgiving is one week away so I thought today would be a good day to begin Thanksgiving posts. The next week will include a short history of Thanksgiving told through paintings like this one, as well as fun craft projects.

When the pilgrims landed in the New World near Cape Cod, Massachusetts, they decided they needed to set up a government because other colonies had already failed without one. Most importantly, all the pilgrims needed to agree to follow the laws. At this time, “all people” referred only to men. The pilgrims created the Mayflower Compact as a written agreement to follow the laws of their new colony. It did not list what the laws would be.
The Mayflower Compact was signed by the 41 men on the ship before they went ashore. Edward Percy Moran’s The Signing of the Compact in the Cabin of the Mayflower, shown here, is one artist’s idea of what this might have looked like.

Edward Percy Moran was born in 1862 and studied art under his father who specialized in marine art. Edward Percy Moran enjoyed painting historical subjects, particularly colonial scenes like this one.

Tomorrow we’ll continue our discovery of Thanksgiving through art.

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Current NaNoWriMo Word Count:

22707 / 50000 words. 45% done!

Did only the bare minimum today
but it was enough to not lose ground.

Impressionists by the Sea

This will be just a quick post because I’m deep into writing the novel. I’m almost back on track to finish in time!

If you live in the Washington D.C. area there is a great exhibit going on right now at the Phillips Collection called Impressionists by the Sea. This is a collection of paintings down mostly in France in the late 1800s. Some of the paintings you’ll see were done by impressionists that you’ve read about on this blog such as Monet.
In the painting shown above, La Plage de Trouville by Monet, you can actually see the sand that was blown into the paint by the wind while Monet worked (en plen air) on the beach. That alone is worth the trip if you ask me.

If you happen to live near Hartford, Conn., this exhibit next travels to the Wadsworth Atheneum and will show from February 9-May 11, 2008.

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My Current NaNoWriMo Word Count:

21012 / 50000 words. 42% done!

Paint Your Own Watercolor Sunset

Watercolor is great. It’s fun to work with and not nearly as hard as oil paints to end up with good results. One thing to keep in mind about watercolors is that when you paint over one color with another, you won’t be able to cover the bottom color. This can create some nice effects that will be useful when you’re making your sunset, but can be frustrating if you forget to paint something in and then can’t add it.

Supplies Needed:

Watercolor paints
Paintbrush
Cup of water for rinsing your brush
Paper

Cover your workspace with newspaper. Choose a sheet of paper. I recommend using think sketch paper because the texture will leave white patches in the water and the sky that will look like breaking waves and cloud wisps.

Since you’re making a sunset, the first thing you should do is paint in the sun. Choose a bright orange or yellow or mix the colors together on the paper. If you want to add any of interesting element, such as a dock or a large rock, do that next.

Now paint streaks of color horizontally across the sky. You could use red, yellow, and orange, or red, pink, and purple, or any colors you want.

Fill in the water the same way. If you’re painting on sketch paper, paint lightly so the texture leaves bits of white poking out. Add more water for lighter blue. I think it looks best if you vary how much water you use. Paint some light blue streaks and some dark blue streaks and let them blend together in places.

Let your masterpiece dry. Hang and enjoy.

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My Current NaNoWriMo Word Count:

18775 / 50000 words. 38% done!

I’m almost caught up!!!!