Imaginary worlds in acrylic paint

Last week I ran a camp for North Vancouver Community Arts Council called "Fanciful Frolics". I will be running a similar camp at my studio starting this coming Monday. At this time, I have one spot left in the afternoon camp from 1-4.

On the first day of camp, I had each child envision their imaginary world. I explained that throughout the week, I would be asking them to think about this world in greater detail. My hope was that when the week ended, each child would be able to tell a story of a world they created visually.

I hope the parents took time to sit down and listen to their children explain their "story" when they took all the work home on Friday.

The first day, I introduced a project creating a landscape painting. Through a series of leading questions, each child created their very own world.

As they were putting paint on paper, some worlds were exactly what I expected.

We had wooded forest with fairies, to be expected.

6 year old

 7 year old

You'll notice mushrooms in each of these pictures, those are the houses where the fairies live. I love that although conceptually the students had very similar ideas, their interpretations are quite different. Believe it or not, these two students did not know each other and sat across the room from each other all week, so were unaware that the other was working on a similar concept.

There were several students who created underwater worlds, with mermaids of course!

6 year old

7 year old

6 year old

6 year old

8 year old

Again if you look closely, you'll see the homes in several of the works. The styles vary widely too. 

Then things began to get a little less expected.....I had one child who was at the seashore, NOT underwater, she was very clear letting me know that detail. I thought that was an interesting choice. You'll see her sandcastle overlooking a lot of happy goldfish, yes, goldfish. What goldfish doesn't dream of being a tropical saltwater fish with a great big ocean to swim in while circling around a glass bowl? 

6 year old

And I was thrilled to see one child create a world in outer space! As she talked about the homes in her picture, she mentioned they looked a lot like her rockets. From there, we discussed that maybe her homes could fly away like rockets if danger in the form of meteors, comets, or aliens showed up.  She liked that idea.

7 year old

And then the surprise of the day, a cave. This concept was so exciting to me because in a million years I would not of thought of anyone creating a magical world inside the cave. And yes, those are bat fairies. I quite enjoyed watching her flush out this idea during the week.

8 year old

I'm quite excited to share with you the work these children created from their imaginations in the next few post. 

I find the art created so charming and sweet. I was so privileged to be able to spend the week sharing in all of the children's imagination, a treat only a few adults ever get the opportunity to experience and one I always treasure.

I hope you enjoy a peek inside the imaginative minds of these creative children too.