Your Pencil is like an ant!!

 How do you get a child to observe - to really look carefully at something so that he or she is able to reflect these observations onto a work of art?

 This child used the pastels very, very carefully to create a beautiful, eye.

 One of the ways I choose to help the children ' turn on their eyes' is by getting them to think of their pencil as a tiny ant. As the ant walks along the object thye are observing, then the pencil draws.

 These works were done after some of the children requested animal art. I choose some great pictures and photographs in national geographic and some coffee table books.

 This is a good work in pencil. Strong shapes flowing together in excellent compisition.

 These first pictures are the works in progress.Are they not just beautiful. These two are exceptional. The eagle is drawn from the frontal perspective and is really special. This chap has gone from strength to stregth in his observational skills and confidence.

 The frog peering out from two leaves was a beautiful drawing. Carefully shaped and with so much 'frog Character"

 This chap decided on a sharks tail and what a tail it turned out to be!! This child used the pastels in a brave and bold way by filling the entire page with either hard, strong marks or a pastel lying on it s side.

 These are some final pictures. The tiger is beautiful. I love the owls feathery feel to it:)

 The Zebra is a fine peice of work by a little chap who has to work very, very hard. I am especially proud of him and all he achieves at art. He also drew the scorpion . Don't you just love the hairs on the body abd those firece pincers? This is followed by the cat. Just lovley!!

 Oil pastels are great to use. Children find confidence in their bright colour and the smooth, quick way to cover a large area. They are fun to blend and these children found different ways to use them. The owl has loose , crayon like texture while the yello mongoose has a solid and bold use of the pastel.

 This serious mongoose turned out to be very bright and clear. The child who drew this spent the lesson filling her page with colour and then working the background in with torn newspaper.

 The tiger is a work in progress. I love the face. Especially the eye, nose and mouth. Good shape!!

 The dog is an exceptioanal piece of work. This child used the pastel by shading it. His background is great and off sets the work itself. I love how he positioned the dog, slightly off the page.

Last, but not least, came the frog. The final product is a synthesis of real and fantasy. Wow!!

I love Art - I love Kids

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I have, what I think , is the best job in the whole wide world:)
I say this tongue in cheek really but in all honesty I do think my work is pretty cool ; pretty unusual and really special. 
I teach children. I teach children all sorts of things and one of the things I get to share with them is about art. I love art almost as much as I love spending time with kids.  
Let me tell you a litte about the children I get to share time with.

I have very, very tiny children that come to Kids@ The Studio on a morning. They get to experience 'art' of a sort through play . These children are emerging our into the world ; with mom at their side, and they are explorers. The little explorers. Whatever I give them to try, taste, investiget, look at , build and catch  or throw. Just about anything really floats their boat. They will give it a bash. I love, love this little group and they are a real blessing to me- each precious, growing one. They are enthusiastic and diserning. Boy are they diserning.... if it is not fun or nice to them well then off they go. And fair enough because when you have a very, very short attention span well then you might as well pick things to do that really grab you. :)

I also get to spend time with other children. These children range from 5 to 12 and they are not my own. They come to art classes. Each week they arrive with a real joy and desire to come and learn. Even when they feel tired , a good bit of drawing usually helps to sooth the weary soul. These children, each speak to my heart on a totally different level to the little ones. These children bring questions and answers ; they bring fun perseptions about life ; they bring their hearts - their likes and dislikes. They too are diserning but on a different level. They take a little while to make sure that I am ok and then we are up and away. 

I have all sorts of children with a variety of interests and abilities. Some with special needs and some with few needs ( seemingly) to me each child is unique and gifted. Each is a gem - a treasure. I love teaching art because art is a good way for children to grow. With art, a child can begin to test and explore and do something new in a safe way. 

Each week I finish the week tired but very much alive. I am privaledged to have these little peopl in my life.

Last but not least, the art classes offer my own children a chance to enjoy art. They have been stretched by seeing others draw and each week ALL these children have grown from strength to strength. 

Art Rocks!! It really does. 
 

From a different angle

 This week was a great lesson. It was absolutely full.... full of fun, chatting but mainly full of drawing and of painting. The children were exposed briefly to the first phase of cubism. That is the breaking up or an object into flat shapes and drawing the object from all angles on the same page.   We looked at some example by  George Braque - The Violin and Candlestick and Picasso.

 The children do not feel brave enough to paint without drawing first and so this delightful drawing above is one done by an 8 year old boy showing the inside of a butternut.

 This one is the butternut from the front veiw and I particularly love this one as he used circles , consecutively, to show the depth of it.

 This is our little 4 going on 5 year old and he really worked hard this time. The idea of doing the avocado from different angles was tough and he really persevere in both painting and drawing.  Well done.

 The apple and the butternut. Both of these show care in observation and colour choice. Fabulous.

 The children, worked on a square page dividend into 4. In each square they had to represent a different angle of the fruit or vegetable chosen

 The apple and the passion fruit.

The children painted with water colour paint . It was really good to see how they began to explore with shading and mixing colours together on the paper.