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

 





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!

 

 

A Beautiful Owl Painting

I was so amazed when I found that my students researched "owls" on the Internet.  I heard questions like "Would they come and live here if we put up owl boxes?" "Are there other sanctuaries where we can see them?" I would be happy to know who handles owls and would be willing to receive a visit from the class.

 

When a subject is so interesting to the children, we carry the theme into a further session. For the acrylic painting class on owls, the journals were put aside. From the moment this girl started her owl, I kept well away. I only mentioned Sap Green as a possible colour to brighten the foliage, and reminded her that the white owl must really stand out in the painting and must not disappear in the busy foliage.

 

This went so well. Just look at the confident
and rhythmic strokes of the foliage!



A truly successful painting for a 14-year old!
Owl is camouflaged, yet well defined.
 

The best test to determine whether
 the tonal values are successful,
 is to look at the subject in black and white.
Yes, it worked a 100% and the detail can be seen!

And so, a confession: this young artist is my
granddaughter, a fifth generation artist in the family.
I hope to surround her with strong young artists continuously. I love the class dynamic and work ethic that we are establishing.





Not too Young to think out of the Box

In 2017 I settled into a retirement centre. Four of my young students (they later became five) wanted drawing classes (painting was already happening in another venue) and my tiny flat was ideal as a small drawing studio. To seat them all around a round table, I had to consider a smaller scale for their work. Journaling was the best choice. The drawings would be together in one book.

My Drawing and Creative Journaling classes consist of the following

• A theme is discussed. It could be books, still life, self knowledge, "plein-air", shells, etc.
• The students make an accurate drawing first, in which they learn observation and investigate the use of pencils, pens or brushes as drawing tools.
• The second part of the lesson is where the students think about the subject, telling more in the form of writing, illustration and affirmations.
• I always provide my students with small sketchbooks or journals so that they can draw wherever they go. To show me what they do at home is not compulsory, but they love to do it!

Having all their drawings together in one journal leads to pride in their work and the journals are sometimes taken away so that a parent or teacher can see the interesting collection of drawings and thoughts.

Lesson: Let's draw some boxes! As an artist from a young age, I was totally bored and irritated by formal perspective lessons. By drawing almost daily, my students will pick up on the vanishing point in boxes and street scenes.

You are only nine years old, and somebody put a box in front of you to draw. There is a lot of merit in this drawing: yes, there are lines that remain straight and lines moving away from the eye and there are sides and angles! I was happy with how the lid was placed! Slowly, we learn to observe! My older students created lighter and darker sides and shadows underneath and even drew the carved design. 

 

 

The creative and more relaxed part of the lesson brought lovely results. I handed out squares of paper to glue randomly onto the second page. Each square had to be turned into 3D-looking box! I loved the box with motivs on the sides and a shadow....and he knew he was "thinking out of the box" there! Other clever bits slipped in. These journals are going to be full of surprises!

Kids and the Joy of Art

I have been a blogger since 2009 when I lived on, and chronicled the West Coast of the Cape. So much happens in ten years! Here I am now greeting you from the Durban Berea two weeks short of my 75th birthday. After a fine arts career of many years, I am back at my first love, namely teaching. To tutor children and open the doors to the art world is the greatest fun. My only real worry....how short are those school years! Do we have enough time?

 

In this blog I will take you through our many different lessons, which you may use too.

 

In this first blog post, I will show you a lesson I gave shortly after moving into a retirement centre. I made an instant connection with my pupils and knew that teaching would be my work of choice!

 

In this blog I will take you through many of our lessons. From each session I felt that I have learnt so much from the children.

The pure joy of creativity!

All the pensive guys



Enthusiasm and talent!



The children received a canvas board, sheet music and a photo for inspiration. I loved the individuality of the work.
This five-year old girl recreated a photo of a bird perched on a delicate porcelain cup.

Great! I love the border too!
 

Such a good day's work! the ages of the students
are from 5 years old to 14.



Great texture!

A bird in the hand are worth two in the bush!
Very original! It looks so musical!

From the first class I found this serious
concentration and joy in their work