Monday, December 28, 2015

lovely teen art from the holidays

I have one teen who every year loves to give her loved ones gifts she has created.

This year, her dad was a very lucky man. I can only imagine how touched he was as he opened the presents she made for him, they made me get teary eyed when finished in the studio.

First there was this piece, a large acrylic painting of a beach they enjoy here in Vancouver.

14 year old

This is something she had been working on by herself and brought to the studio frustrated. To be honest, it did not need much help from me, really just some encouragement that she was indeed on the path to a beautiful work of art and some simple suggestions on how to finish the work and put in the trees, breakers, and pier. 

This is even more stunning in person and I am sure it took her father's breath away when opened.

14 year old

And I have no doubt this work left him with a huge lump in his throat and more than a little teary eyed.

I had the elementary class wood burning and acrylic ornaments displayed on the wall, a project you can read about here and here. The artist was quite impressed and intrigued with the younger artists' works and asked to try her hand at the project too.

Another gift she wanted to create for her father.

She opened up here phone and showed me a picture she had taken that she wanted to use for reference, a winter scene with a log cabin.

I told her it would be a perfect subject matter for the project and she began to work. As she was working, I asked her about the picture.

This is the family cabin in Quebec. 

Every year at Christmastime, they meet up with all her father's siblings and their families here. Her father has six siblings and the cabin was built from a kit by the artist's grandfather with the help of all the siblings when her dad was just six years old.  This cabin has been apart of his life for almost as long as he can remember.

Can you imagine the significance that this particular artwork will have for her dad? What a priceless gift.

Now you can see why I got so choked up when she was telling me the story. 

I think she hit it out of the ballpark with these two gifts, but the young woman was not quite finished yet.  On the last class, she brought a print out of a photograph taken at her cousin's wedding this past summer.

She wanted to use it to create a mixed media project using image transfer.

As you all know, I love broadening my own creative horizons and find online classes an easy way to fit new techniques and ideas into my schedule. I was doing a quick course created by artist Ivy Newport called, Shades of White and had the first project using cold wax on the wall drying. This was a jumping off point for the young artist's project for her cousin.

14 year old

This piece is an image transfer with acrylic, conte crayons, water-soluble pencil, graphite, and cold wax. Believe it or not, there use to be a crowd of people included in the transfer who were at the wedding.  I think she felt a little guilty as she painted out her aunt to be honest, but what an incredible job she did melding the photograph and her painting together.

Yet again, amazing and I have no doubt will not only surprise the bride on Christmas morning but also become one of the most treasured gifts she received during the holidays.

( If you're inspired by this work, Ivy just opened registration again for Shades of White in January, you can sign up here if interested.)

This artist is a very talented young woman. A young woman who has a deep desire to create gifts with meaning for those she loves and does so magnificently.












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