Arts Alive

Last week I did a workshop for kids through a program called Arts Alive, funded by the Addison Center for the Arts. The class was at the local Junior High School and 5 students had signed up for my Mandala Designs class. I had three 6th graders and a couple of 8th graders. The class was in 2 sessions for about 2 hours each.

On the first day, all the kids prepared 2 canvases with the background colors they liked. The time went by really fast! It was a little surprising for me to learn that middle school kids have not used a compass to draw circles before. So it was interesting to teach them basic geometry before starting  to paint.

In the second session, they got to play with 3 dimensional fabric paint - a.k.a. puffy paint. They were painting mandalas similar to how I paint them and it was fun to teach this way of playing with paint to the kids.

One of the kids might soon get much better at this than me :) 

Check out how she is free-handing the pattern with fabric paint. 

There were a couple of times when I had to remind some of the kids to be respectful of the class & focus, but overall it was a fun and satisfying experience, and may be, I think I would be more open to working with kids again than I have been in the past. of course, it was also great to be part of a program that brings more art opportunities to kids who wouldn't otherwise get to explore things outside their regular class stuff. So proud of these budding artists :) 

First Oil Painting

Wanting to learn something new, and a reason to leave the house during the week, I signed up for a couple of classes offered by the Elk Grove Park District. The first one is a Oil Painting class and the other, an open studio for artists. I have been to two of the oil painting sessions and finished a small 9" x 12" painting on canvas panel. I was told that the panel I took was too textured and I had some trouble having to push hard to get enough paint to stick on it. The final painting turned out to be a lot darker than I wanted it to be, but it still looks decent for a beginner's effort. 

Progress after week-1

Finished painting from today

I started a second painting today, from a photo, and the project is, to put it mildly, very ambitious. Two more weeks before I know how it is going to turn out. I also need to buy a new set of oil paints in the mean time, as I have been working with a very old set bought from someone off of craigslist a few years back. Even with pliers, we can't seem to open some of the tubes! I am beginning to actually like painting with oils (though my preference is still acrylics), to want to invest in a new set of paints. Shopping time next week :)