Sunday, February 15, 2015

A morning full of color

This morning I ran a workshop for the North Vancouver Community Arts Council focusing on chalk pastel works inspired by Monet.

After looking at some of Monet's work and going over the technique of optical blending, 9 students between the ages of 5 and 10 embarked on their own impressionistic landscapes in chalk pastels.

Halfway through the two hour class and most students were sporting colorful beards, mustache faces and clothing had taken on a very rainbow hue.  Thank goodness it washes out!

It was at about this point that a reporter from the North Shore News showed up to see just what was happening in class.  An unexpected surprise that left the kids all thrilled because who doesn't like the idea of being in the newspaper?!

So it will be fun to see their work and their very colorful faces beaming from the pages of our neighborhood paper sometime soon.

Until then, here's a look at what these talented students created today.  I've included the reference so you can see just how each child interpreted the visuals.

Here is how a 9 year old handled a Koi pond garden





And how incredible is this 5 year old drawing!  I could not believe how well she understood the concept and her visual interpretation of the reference she chose was quite impressive too.



This 8 year old boy came to class feeling a little less than confident in his art skills.  A sport fanatic who in the end excelled just as wonderfully with his art as he does on the hockey rink or football field.  I think he had a great time "crashing" the waves into the glacier too...kind of like crashing into the boards with hockey. 



It was interesting to watch this 6 year old work through the challenges of the reference picture he picked.  I loved seeing all the changes he mades as the time went on and thought he came up with a beautiful picture.



By the end of the class, this 9 year old looked more like the Incredible Hulk at pick up than the boy his father dropped off in the morning for class.  There was no doubt when looking at him what picture he had completed!



And what a lot of work this 9 year old put into her piece!  She went over the chalk a lot of times getting this just right.  Lovely in the end for sure.


I love how the water really seems to glow in this work created by a 10 year old.  What a challenge working with all that dark!



This enthusiastic 9 year old was a little late getting to class so had to jump right into the artwork without the benefit of going over Monet's work and technique but it didn't seem to hurt him at all.  He caught on very quickly to the concept and was off to the races without a lot of direction on my part.  He was so happy with his work when finished.



And finally this 9 year old who created this artwork without use of reference.  I think she used a bit of everything she saw on the table around her.  I love the way she came up with her own technique for an inspired impressionistic piece.


So although a little more colorful at pick up than when they were dropped off, I said goodbye to a group of very proud children at the end of class.  As you can see, they had every reason to feel that way.







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