We loved learning about Athena, and we drew lots of Athena images. I did not share with you, my Athena paper doll. I have a bad excuse. It was imperfect… I get it, it is not a good trait to teach my daughters, to be a perfectionist, so, I will show you on my next post. I will re-create my Athena paper doll until it is perfect. Those are opposing statements, but I will show you the imperfect job, then I will recreate and perfect.
But this is not about me, or my perfectionism.
This is about Lilli.
I sent Lilli to the computer to work on her Duolingo lesson. But I got distracted by a funny picture of one of the Duolingo characters “dressed” as the Venus of Boticelli. I had been meaning to show Lilli because of how funny it looks and the fact that Lilli knows about Venus and that painting (I am a bit obsessed with the goddess).
Since we learned about Athena, the next goddess we were going to learn about was Aphrodite. Of course, Venus is the Roman name for Aphrodite. Lilli likes Aphrodite even more than Athena, she said. I realized that we must not forget Artemis….
I started with Athena on purpose. I intended to initiate the ancient goddess club with the wise one. Obviously.
About Lilli’s Boticelli inspired Venus:
I was making fun of this hilarious Venus inspired character when I started talking to Lilli of the famous painting which she already knows and considers sus(picious), because, well, Venus is undressed in the painting and covering up with her fabulous hair, just like this hilarious character is covering up with his beard.
The painting is of her birth. According to myth, she was born fully grown like Athena, with one difference, Athena was born in full armor, Venus, was born fully grown and without clothes. Int he very gorgeous Boticelli painting, Venus is being offered a gorgeous cloth to cover herself up.
Between one joke and the next, we were looking up the famous Boticelli picture. We saw that there were countless pictures of it for sale and Lilli was amazed at how expensive they were, and I told her that is really nothing for a copy of one of the most famous paintings in the world. One of the most reproduced paintings ever.
I realized that the original painting is so old that it precedes copyright laws and thus it is completely free to be copied and used in any way and even to sell. I immediately told Lilli that she should draw her, not thinking anything of it. I opened Duolingo and went to work with Lizzie on her story, I will write about that story as soon as she is ready, but it is a marvelous project.
While I was sitting with Lizzie at her computer, Lilli calls me, and she shows me this incredible Venus art! I was speechless.
Lilli dressed her Venus! That was sweet. Something about her wearing rags, though, she said since the Greeks tied their clothes. But I am not certain why she dressed Venus in rags but for a child, it is much better than in her birth suit. So, I take her creativity, and I loved it.
I am simply in love with that hair, and you bet I will spend the better of the next 5 years drawing my Venus of Boticelli. That was a joke….
Boticelli and his birth of Venus painting
Take advantage and learn some art history through the links below:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Birth-of-Venus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandro_Botticelli Learn everything about Boticelli, the painter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_Venus Learn everything about the painting.
(How are the kids’ language learning going? Lizzie did her first ever Duolingo class today, that was a huge success, and she noticed what she didn’t know, of course, but I noticed how much she actually knew. Perspectives.). Lilli and Vivi both do Duolingo Spanish. I have to remind them, but they understand so much. I am getting Alex (4) to understand what it means that other language Spanish, huh, he doesn’t fully get it yet, but he likes papas fritas (fried potatoes)….
Meanwhile, I am learning three languages. I will have to go back to the drawing board with my initiative for teaching the children languages. However, the children have learned Spanish, they simply are not language “nerds” like me. The thing is I love language learning. They love art and games. To me language is art and fun.
NOTE: I used the word nerd full of love and with no judgement. I think language nerds are some of the coolest people ever. Perspectives.
Let us talk again soon,
Eve
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