More Fantasy Birds

The second workshop was extremely successful. I had 10 hardworking girls. After an introduction and discussion of various examples, the children started working and surprised me with their originality!

 

What a rainbow, what a sun. Who can tell what the crow is thinking?

Body language is all! The female peacock surely wonders what her guy is up to!

A clever frame for a pretty blue robin!

A lovely graphic and precise design

Beautiful pastels for a spring feeling

The tree is so special. This student was only 6 and had
no problem in filling the background of her painting



This painting attracted attention on Facebook. It is very expressionistic!

These migrating birds had the most likes on Facebook
 and the work spoke to many viewers

I enjoyed these two days of workshops. I was immediately asked to keep the children on a list to inform them of the dates of the June workshops.

The Fantasy Birds are Up and Away

Today was the start of my March Holiday Art Workshops. It was lovely to meet this group of children ranging from 6 to 16 years. Many of them are home schooled.

 

I believe that one should start with good canvas board, the best acrylic paints, good brushes and a lot of inspiration materials.Our boards are 12" x 12" Pro-Art canvas boards.The paints are mostly Iris Acrylic paint that gives good coverage in a single layer.

The brushes are Prime Art long-handled taklon synthetics in various flat sizes. I also provide angled brushes and love seeing the joy the students experience once they get the hang of the angle brush.

 

There is another workshop on the same theme tomorrow.

Can't wait!

All hand drawn, without using the stencils. The students always surprize me!
And these are such fun little characters!

 

 

The classroom: space to work and space to move around



The students could visit the inspiration table set up in a corner



Youngest in the group, getting right down to it



Happy painting! The tiny containers with little spoons hold the white paint



This is what artists do-  they get up to work from above!



The Iris acrylics give good coverage so that layering was seldom necessary



With the more serious students, symbolism entered the work.
A long tail looks like a reflection of the bird.
 A wise old foreground bird is covered with symbols



How well our tiniest student painted her birds which seem to
tell a story



Another story unfolds under a red hot sun and a branch of leaves



Birds also offer such good forms for designs.
A very effective use of strong colour!

March 2019 Workshop Preparation

I am proud of this venue which was kindly provided by a church across the road from me.

I am having great fun preparing for the Children's Art Workshops which will be held the next two days. My venue is such that I only have to cross a (very busy) street with all the materials. So far there are 3 heavy bags and a bucket to carry. When I was much younger I also had to carry a little blind dog in her basket to class. Thank heavens for backpacks and shoulder straps!

Our theme will be Colourful Fantasy Birds, and I hope to see the children really use all those beautiful opaque acrylics! The first bird theme called "Fly with Me" can be seen on older posts. It as a very enjoyable and successful class.

 

For tomorrow we have books and scrapbooks filled with ideas, and also some completed paintings as inspiration. What I appreciate about children nowadays is that they do not copy the work of others. My classes are very much into individualism! So I am looking forward to see the results.

Besides good canvas and good quality paints, I have also invested in very good soft brushes. The acrylic paint will flow smoothly onto the canvas!

 

I am looking forward to the workshops, and will post photos after the classes!

The smaller children can use these stencils which I cut

from strong cardboard, to get started with their painting,

which will be on 300mm x 300mm canvas board (12" x 12")

These bird stencils can be used by the older students.

For inspiration only. A precious work by Isabel Le Roux

Using prepared stencils will help to prevent "artists' block" When I have workshops,
I must always take into account the fact that students need to go home
with a completed painting, even spray varnished if there is time.

For students who are inclined to prefer a design, I made a quick example. They can
 repeat one stencil all over their 12" x 12" canvas and use a single colour as a background.

I have to anticipate that students 13-16 will have different ideas on how a painting
must look. The smaller stencils can be used after the first layer, the landscape, is dry.

BOTTOM: Paintings of birds by South African artist Gladys Mgudlandlu ( 1917 - 1979)
Source: Bonhams brochure 20 March 2013

 





Classes and Workshops

Information about my children's art classes in Musgrave, Durban, KZN South Africa:

CHILDREN’S ART CLASSES
&

 HOLIDAY WORKSHOPS

Regular classes:

At G14 Garden Grove Retirement Centre

Students 8 – 16 years Fee: R450 per month

 

March Morning Workshop:

27^th or 28^th March from 9:00 – 12:30 in Musgrave Rd

Each student will go home with a completed painting on canvas

Fee: R150 includes canvas and all materials, snack and drink

Contact: Marie Theron

083 681 4401