oil pastel magic

On the last day of the Magic and Myth camp, I put out a variety of items I have on display in the studio.

Walnut shell halves found on a hike, leaf and flower skeletons, a silk worm cocoon, shells, you name it, I have picked it up. There is even a small bird skull because it's not weird enough that I keep a dead bird in the freezer for drawing studies.....

I find these things fascinate the kids and are more often than not, a source of inspiration for their artwork. If nothing else, my hope is that they realize beauty is all around us if we only take time to look.

Anyway, we were winding down a week of art projects and the kids were looking drained. I decided to have a little fun, since it was the Magic and Myth camp,and presented the above items with a bit of embellishment.

There was an orange love potion in a bottle I picked up from a wizard. It could of been an old bottle filled with orange soda, but no one knew for sure.

8 year old

I presented a poison apple I stole from the wicked Queen on her way to find Snow White. (Snow, we're on a first name basis, can thank me later by having the seven dwarfs come over to clean my house!)

7 year old

And there was a magical bean (silk worm cocoon) that was stolen by my good friend, Jack, from a giant.

8 year old

Needless to say the kids got a good laugh and although they knew better, really wanted to believe the fairytales I was spinning as I placed the items on the table.

"That's not really a love potion, is it?" 

"Come on, that's Fanta! right?"

I told them they would have to try it to find out, but shouldn't come crying to me when every boy in town was chasing after them. Lots of giggles, but absolutely no one was willing to risk the threat of boys making goo-goo eyes at them.

Give it a couple more years.

7 year old

I left it up to them how many things they chose to put into their composition. Amongst all the fun, I tried to get them to focus on the shadows and highlights. I spent time with each of them, showing them how to make an apple look "3-D", or how to add highlights to the bottle than went over the orange potion.

7 year old

6 year old

How great is this bird skull? I always stress that the kids should put their own spin on a drawing, not to worry about making it look just like it does in real life. I'm so glad this child took that to heart. 

7 year old

Several of the kids began taking the items and adding their own imagination to embellish them in their artwork, like this potion bubbling over and into the silk cocoon.

Or this very abstract work of a walnut shell.

9 year old

 I love this soft color palette this artist used in her piece, when placed with all her other work of the week, it fits a very definite aesthetic.

10 year old

10 year old

It was fun playing make believe for an hour before the parents arrived and I love the art each child created, art they can now use to tell their own make believe stories of the week they spent in Magic and Myth camp.