What young child doesn't like horses? And combined with being from the same realm as fairies, it seemed a natural. Although as I started researching, the Kelpie was not a nice horse whatsoever as he kidnapped young children and adults alike and dragged them to the watery depths he called home.
Not the warm and fuzzy story I was hoping for when I discovered Kelpies, but I told the kids to feel free to make a "nice" kelpie if they wanted too.
I decided to have the kids create these kelpies with a monochromatic color palette. I wanted them to discovery the large variety of colors one particular color could be by adding white, black, or even small amounts of other primary colors.
5 year old
I did to a side by side drawing with the above artist as she was reluctant to start because drawing a horse was "too hard". With a reference picture between us, I had her tell discover and tell me the shapes she felt made up the horse. A big circle, an oval, and triangles. As she would discover a shape, we would both draw it on our papers side by side. I then showed her how to connect the shapes with line to get the basic shape of a horse. After that, she was "off to the races" so to speak. She LOVED mixing a variety of greens to use to paint her kelpie and in the end added a starfish by his ear. When the paint was dry, I gave her a black oil pastel to clean up some of her lines and finish the piece.
6 year old
I love that this artist combined two magical horse creatures together to create her artwork. Here you have the Unicorn Kelpie. How awesome is that round blue sun in the back too?
6 year old
Love this sweet artwork that captures the Kelpie at his underwater home. The kids were given a choice to create a palette of green or blue. This child started with blue and yellow in order to mix her greens, but couldn't help using the colors on their own too. In the end, all decisions are up to the kids as it is their artwork and I'm quite thrilled that she did create a beautiful green for her Kelpie while enjoying painting her piece.
7 year old
This 7 year old made such deliberate choices from beginning to end in this artwork. She wanted a nighttime piece and so used a lot of black in her color mixing. She paid attention to her brushstrokes in the background too in order to create a sense of movement in the water. Love the way she interpreted the kelpie's eye.
And finally this young boy has been coming to the studio for over a year. He has done many painting and sketches with me and I am well aware that what he really likes to do is draw. He is not a huge fan of painting and so I modified his project in order to give him something he enjoys most- sketching and drawing.
9 year old
He drew his artwork with a water-soluble graphite and charcoal. I then gave him some white gesso to paint into the sketch which created a beautiful work of art in tones of grey and black. Then he decided he's like to add some blue to the sky and water. He quite enjoyed painting in the way that emphasized his love of drawing first and foremost.
And that's it. The Kelpie that is anything but a friendly creature from the fairy realm captured in a way only children are able to do. Each reflecting the personality of the artist who created it while giving them some insight into the magic of color and all the endless possibilities it holds for an artist.
No comments:
Post a Comment