SNAPSHOTS: Art in is in their soul!

When I find children who love to doodle and draw, I am like an addict - I just have to do art with them!

In church I noticed several youngin's who regularly brought paper and pencils to while away the time during adult presentations. It didn't take long to make an Art Date!

I rounded up some supplies from one of my favorite art supply catalogs (Cheap Joe's), and we were off on our artistic adventures!

I made tiny art kits for them, using Altoid tins. The contents are: pencil sharpener, white eraser, kneaded eraser, and two tortillions for blending. In a gallon ziplock which held the mini-kit, they also got a sketch book, an HB pencil, and a black pencil.

Two families were my target art kids. Ages range from 5 to 14. I meet with a homeschooled family during the day, and the family with 3 older kids after school.

We started with basics - shapes, shading, shadows. Now they are developing an "artist's eye", looking for those shapes in everyday items, drawing them, then giving those shapes form with shading and textures.

We don't have a regular schedule, but we try for a couple times a month. They are enthusiastic, talented, and great fun!

This morning I met with the homeschool family. I took some helpers along. My stuffed mice, a big toad that croaks, a sheep, and a massage-tool dog. We looked for basic shapes, and went from there, chatting about what we saw, how to get it on paper, and naming them!

Here's the instigator of the project: Elijah. Five-years old Eli was my first (and youngest) art student of the group. This youngster has talent and desire - as soon as I come in the door, he says "Let's do art!"

Tyson has a passion for making stories with his art. There will always be a surprise in his drawings, as his imagination takes him past the basic lesson. This time, the mouse is holding an ipad with his tail!

Quentin quickly caught on to the technique of shading for form, and providing shadows so his drawings don't just floating in space!

A previous lesson involved turning triangles into familar forms. After doing some drawing and shading to produce teepees, we practiced some Native American art in the sketch books, then applied the pictures to the teepee project. A quick trip outside produced sticks for teepee poles - then some Scout practice lashing them together to put our grocery-bag "skins" over. Wah-lah! Teepees! (they also pointed out, that the shape was like ICE CREAM CONES! Can't fool that "artist's eye"!)

This munchkin loves to be in the middle of the art projects. After the first few lessons, we decided it was not quite in her attention span yet! Happily, mom either distracts her with books, or three-year old Olivia finds her own entertainment.

Is Livvie not just the perfect model for a sketch of "Happy Girl" ?? My camera started getting tucked into my art tote each lesson day, for obvious reasons!