Portraits!

I love children's interpretations of faces. They somehow have a certain charm and characteristics that capture the perfect mood and fun details:

Chantrice, age 11, captured this image from the newspaper. Notice the striking similarity! But she wanted to do it like a 'bubblehead' where the head is bigger than the body. Below is another of Chantrice's work. (She made several sketches in one session!) I love the subtle sepia lines and details!


Another interesting take on faces:


And my favorite doodle:

Chiara, age 5

Paper Lanterns!

These paper lanterns are part of the exercises for the Earth Hour* countdown. These are made from ordinary paper, cut and folded into a cylinder, and decorated with the kids drawings. For years now, the kids in my workshops have made their lanterns in support of the Earth Hour project and I think, a year ago during the Copenhagen meet, some of these lanterns joined hundred of other lanterns made by kids (and animals!) that were sent from around the world to give support for environment protection.

*Earth Hour is an annual event that encourages people to simultaneously switch off electricity for 1 hour or 60 minutes. In essence, it promotes a simpler lifestyle that goes beyond the 60 minutes switch off.

Samantha, age 8

The Maxi Project!

Portraits are exciting projects for kids especially if the subject of the portrait is their puppy. In this session our model is a Pomeranian puppy named Maxi. You can imagine the chaos. I have around 6 kids ages 3 to 11 in a room, plus our model Maxi, and we are working on the floor. We lined the floor with old newspapers and had our water-based art materials on hand: watercolor pencils, acrylic paints, watercolor paper and newspapers!

This is an excellent time to hone the kids' eye for details. We first started making a sculpture using newspapers cut, stuffed and painted. And while waiting for the sculpture to be assembled, the kids made the illustration and painting. A fun, chaotic session which ended with playtime for Maxi!