Edgar Degas

After our visit to the Legion of Honor to see Monet was so successful, I was eager to return.  This visit would add another impressionist to his education, Edgar Degas.  We introduced Edgar Degas by reading Getting to Know the World's Artists Edgar Degas.  This book series is wonderful for children to read because they speak to a child from the lives and works of the artist while incorporating jokes along the way to keep them interested and entertained.  They are not just a biography but written more along the lines of what the artists vision and talent was that made them such a great artist.

After reading the book and discussing him as an artist we watched Art with Madi and Dada before we began our next project.  Madi and Dada have a series of videos put together for children on many different artists.  During each video they travel back in time and meet the artist in person to a share an adventure together.  Jaxon loves these videos and will even watch them when we are not doing an art project.   Anytime we are learning art history I always check their website to see if I can include a short video.  We then started on our project with a little more knowledge of the artist.  Rose found a great project using Chalk Pastels and focusing on how to draw a ballerina just like Degas.

In preparation of our visit to the museum we sat down as a family and watched The Artist's Special as Seen on HBO Degas and the Dancer. HBO has done an amazing job with their Artist's Special Series.  It captured all of our attention and held our interest through the entire movie.  It was such a great addition to what we have done in the past for art history that I found myself in search of the other five videos in the collection.  So when the time comes to study the other artists we will have them at our fingertips.

For further technique classes we turned to Young Art for a lesson, as we had previously for our Monet study.  When we arrived at young art in the Stoneridge Mall we were greeted by an amazing employee who was very excited to show Jaxon all his choices for a Degas study.  While browsing her cell phone he decided upon a portrait of Edgar Degas.  I left him in her capable hands and returned to this amazing portrait. His techniques have improved so far recently that he absolutely amazes me in his abilities to capture the artwork.

We arrived early at the Legion of Honor with pure excitement.  This was the first time my husband was joining us at the museum.  The Degas, Impressionism and the Paris Millinery Trade exhibit is at the Legion of Honor for a limited time June 24, 2017 to September 24, 2017.  

When we purchased our tickets we included an audio tour to heighten our experience of the current exhibit.  The Legion of Honor's audio tours are always so well done and help to keep us focused on the art work and learn about each individual piece.

Westin SFO

We checked into the Westin San Francisco Airport the night before our flight to New York.  One of the reasons we enjoy this hotel so much is they are one of the closest to the Airport.  Not only do they include a 24 hour shuttle to the airport they are the last pick up.  So you do not have to worry about sitting on a shuttle as it stops at every hotel on the street estimating the amount of time it will take you to get to the airport.

We always try to reserve a larger room when we stay near the airport so Jaxon has the ability to run around before a long flight and we are able to organize our suitcases.  In this case we were actually upgraded to the Chairman's Suite.  All of the suites we have stayed in at this location have been very spacious and comfortable. 

While my husband and Jaxon spent a majority of their time at the pool.  My mother and I went to the gym to get one last work out in before our long flight.  Their gym is more then accommodating and was kept very clean and organized.  The Westin also makes workout clothes available for all of their guests.  I personally have never utilized this service but I will say has always made me curious.  

As we browsed the room service menu and found nothing I quickly called downstairs to the Grill & Vine Restaurant that was located in the lobby and asked if they could accommodate pick up orders.  They were more than accommodating not only did they take our order they also called us to notify us when it was ready for pick up.  Their menu was so extensive that it was actually hard for all of us to make decisions.  Once we picked up our food we opened a bottle of wine and relaxed enjoying the peace before the airport chaos would begin the following day.