anne seims inspired watercolors

When we first moved back to Vancouver from the Seattle area, my oldest daughter was commuting across the city to her high school. Every morning she passed a gallery where she admired the paintings of an artist in the window. I heard about this artist almost every day when she finished school and over the next year and half, she followed the artist's work diligently, sharing with me her love of the artwork.

When it came time for her high school graduation, my husband and I wanted to buy her something that she could carry with her in life to remember this very momentous occasion. I told him we should go and look at the work of this particular artist at the gallery our daughter had passed every day. We did end up buying her one of the artist artworks and our daughter's reaction when she opened her gift was more than I could of ever hoped for, to this day, five years later, it is still her most cherished item and she still follows this artist religiously.

She gets so excited at each new exhibit of her work and each new success this artist finds and along the way, I too, have become a fan.

Ironically the artist is from Seattle and her name is Anne Seims.

mates (2010), Anne Seims

The above picture is from the Jacana Gallery website, the gallery my daughter passed each day admiring Anne Seim's work.

I have a small book of her work in the studio and have found that many of the children are also drawn to the magical quality of Seim's artwork. So much so, I decided to have the preteen class create a watercolor inspired by the artist.

George, 11 year old

If you have been following along the blog for awhile, you will recognize George. From time to time, the artist will use her dog in her artwork. This painting captures the character of her dog brilliantly.

moose, 12 year old

This moose is just wonderful! I believe her mother had it framed in a hot minute when the art went home.

These works were created in 5 layers using a high gloss medium. The girls first lightly applied the medium on the paper anywhere they wanted things left white. Then painted the first layer in either a light pink or yellow. From there on out, they repeated the steps of medium then paint, working up to the last layer in black. Then the entire work was covered in high gloss medium. Once finished, they went back into the art with a white gel pen to create all the details.  

"princess", 11 year old

I so love that this artist allows creative process to guide her. She did not start this thinking she would do a princess cat, but those lips begged to become a princess. Ironically this was inspired by a reference photo used to create "George" above. In one of the pictures the artist has of her dog, he is wearing a tiara. (one of the downfalls of living in a house with three little girls) This was the jumping off point for "Princess", as she looked like quite a diva with her lipstick lips. 

I love where the artist went with this work of her cat, I think she did too.

bunny, 10 year old

Finally this sweet bunny. The artist created such a soft and gentle painting. It's hard not to fall in love with this precious rabbit. The original marks she had made in the the gloss medium guided the addition of the flowers.

I put these artworks on the studio's instagram account and tagged Anne Seims. How thrilled were the girls when she commented on their works of art! They and their parents were so excited when I shared with them what she had written. It gave the girls such validation and I could not of been more thrilled for them.

And my oldest daughter? When I told her to go and look at the instagram post? She was beyond herself to say the least.

She is still Seim's biggest fan after all these years, along with four new young fans from the preteen class after creating these beautiful artworks inspired by her paintings.