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

The Humble Pencil

I usually take students of eight years and older. Because I allow free expression, all the media from pencils to sepia and black pens and all water based colouring media are available at all times. Yet, something strange occurred: the older they are, the more they prefer pencil work. I have nothing against pencil work as it is an excellent way of making them very aware of tonal differences.

 

Out of curiosity though, I turned this into a discussion topic. Why do the older students prefer to work in pencil or sometimes pen only, thus mostly in monotone? I am still getting answers. A strange one was that they were provided with coloured crayons from an early age. I think I can see the budding little artist feeling that not everything in life could be red, blue, green or yellow! All could not be expressed in primary colours! More subdued media make them feel "grown-up"!

 

This is how I teach pencil drawing:

 

1. You work on thick paper that cannot tear too easily.
2. You do not have one pencil only, but a range of B pencils namely B2, B4, B6.
3. Your pencils are sharp so that you can see past the point of the pencil and you make good marks.
4. You start your drawing very softly... assertive kids tend to start with very hard marks, which 9 out of 10 times, they want to rub out again!
5. "Fuzzy" colouring-in with the side of the pencil and rubbing with fingers is only one technique that can be used here and there but not all over the work and cannot be your main technique.
6. I always use some of my own completed works to inspire the class, pointing out the various techniques and variety of pencils used.

This is my own work and one of the examples I
use to demonstrate the multiple uses of pencils.

Another of my pencil sketches. I included
watercolour pencil. I hope I can soon encourage
the class to add some colour to their pencil work

A teacher cannot be more pleased! The marks and
tones in this student's work show an
understanding of pencils. No fuzz and
blending, lots of marks, great shadows!

Knowing that my student was only 9 years
old, made me appreciate the directional
brushstrokes and original slogan!
And that is a perfectly round cork stopper which 
 makes the bottle seem round too.



I am excited about the discovery of their own "mark"! And by showing my work in the beginning of the lesson, we avoided the boring pencil blending which young students often do!

 

Young Artists Expressing Themselves

Introducing my students to journals was one of the best ideas ever. I wonder why I have never thought of it before. There is such pride in working in the journals and in having their drawings together in one place. I must add this: my students' work is not much like the popular craft hobby known as "Journaling"! We rather concentrate on a drawing of the day, and then, afterwards, the work can be embellished with affirmations and even half a page of writing.

 

Over time, the journals quickly became the students' pride and joy. Often they take them home to show parents their progress or to work for hours more at home. I started handing out small moleskine journals too, so that they have pocket drawing books to take on holidays and weekend trips. 

 

This young student of mine wanted to conform, by trying realism and rubbing out, rubbing out, trying to get it realistic and perfect. To my great joy, I could eventually guide her to relax, to forget about realism and about what others were doing, and to do her own "thing", which turned out delightful!  Here are two self-portraits brimming with joy and expressionism:

 

Self-portraits full of personality!

From a formal point of view, I was happy with the

placing of the eyes and other features, and with

the clever use of charcoal for the hair.

 

As her confidence grew, the student would say:

" I like animation!" Well, why not...and I thought drawing a violin from memory like that was quite an achievement!

 

And then came the  discovery of Manga eyes on the Internet!

To Google when they are at home and then draw from

the cell phone is something that I am not going to forbid.

 It is also a handy reference tool when they travel.

 

Let there be eyes! Anime eyes! 

 I now have my two large books of  Manga art by Christopher Hart available for reference in class. The opportunity is there to practice anime if my students are so inclined. It is not easy! I know, I tried and have a full sketch book to show for it! My reasoning is that anything we do in class, portrait, landscape, anime, etc, can in a few years' time become careers for my students.

 

Nothing gives me more joy, than realising that each student is developing in a natural way, doing what he/she does best.

There will always be great diversity and never a row

of identical projects coming out of the workshops!

Through the Looking Glass

I found this title in a book with the work of William Blake: "The Power of the Imagination", words I often use to inspire my students. They know that they can create works which are totally different from that of anybody else. Dividing their canvas or journal to get the "through the looking-glass" feeling was a great idea!

 

 

This is the first of the "transformation" paintings which
 I want to discuss with you.
How delightful! On the left there is a girl in a
suburban scene. I loved the broken wall.
Is that where you escape to a different world?
I really do not like to work on their nerves,
by trying to analise their vision or
ask "why" questions continiously!

Then the girl passes though the imaginary divide into
a forest filled with foliage, where her outfit is more
adventurous and she now has the curled horn of a faun. I love the serene and contented little face! How well the colours work together! We do not do colour wheels and formal boring lessons, so the yellow/ purple complimentary colours happened spontaneously!
 

 

 

The second painting, part of a journal

is the work of an eight-year old. On the right-hand side of the journal, a tiny girl, drawn in pencil, stands next to a plain tree and contemplates the "normal" scene, which is a watercolour of a green field with distant trees and sky. Some birds were done in

white oil crayon to magically

appear through the paint.

 

On the left side, the same tree shows curly branches which form an eye and an owl.  The total sky turns into a vertical rainbow. Do not miss the little white cloud with a tiny house drifting by!

Imagination is alive and  thriving!

 

Being almost 75, I always have a nap after the art class, as I live on adrenaline while amazing things happen in their journals or on their canvasses! I love what they are doing and specially the great originality my students possess. I think I postpone breathing until afterwards!