potty talk with Georgia O'Keeffe

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to work with some "nearly" four year olds.  They are so much fun and so much energy!

I decided we would work on large flowers inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe with chalk pastel because what almost four year old doesn't like to work with chalk?

I learned a funny thing about my studio that morning, the stools are not high enough for very little children and so we moved everything to the floor which I think only added to their excitement to be truthful.

I have pulled off the internet some close up pictures of different flowers that I keep in my reference files.  I pulled about six different ones out  and told them to choose one they wanted to draw.

The instructions given were simple.  The petals needed to touch at least three sides of the paper.  

In this case, I did not have them work with practice paper.  We just dove right into finished work.

Step by step I had them observe what they were seeing in the picture.  

What did they notice about the center of the flower?

How many petals did they really see?

How many colors were actually in a blue petal?

Then side by side, we drew what we saw.  The kids all ended up going in their own direction with color choices.  At first I believe this was their way of testing my reaction and when they realized I was all in for them to go with what they wanted, they embraced it with great zeal.

And while we were working, the kids were so eat'em up cute that I couldn't help calling them southern terms of endearment...

Sweet Pea

Punkin

and Missypoo.

And this is where I learned a valuable lesson about the differences in cultures.  Here is Canada, or at least Vancouver, Missypoo is NOT a well known term of endearment.

So when I called a little girl "Missypoo", the little boy next to me did not miss a beat when he remarked, "Potty talk".

I had never even considered that yes, Missypoo, could be considered potty talk.

I found it even more difficult to explain that I was not referring to poo, which just felt like I was involved in way more potty talk and so I figured the best line of defense was to redirect attention to some more crazy color for the flowers and snack time!

Snack time is truly a girl's best friend when she has put her foot clearly in her mouth.

I did take the time to explain to the parents the exchange that had happened and we all had a good chuckle.  And yet again, I learned yet another valuable lesson when working with children.

Keep the nic name "Missypoo" to yourself.

So without further ado, I present to you the work of nearly four year olds inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe and a bit of potty talk.