Place des Arts classes

Here's what we did at today's Paint, Print, Portfolio kid's class at Place des Arts. 

We assembled the portfolios. Last week the kids made coloured papers using heart shaped upcycled crayons and smelly markers. Today we used the papers to cover the cardboard portfolios. I think the duct tape borders look great.

We also started work on an alphabet colouring book. When I was looking through my "stuff" for ideas, I came across a homemade alphabet colouring book zine, and thought it would be a good challenge for the kids.to make their own. I took in a copy of Graeme Base's Animalia, because it is so beautifully illustrated, but mainly because it is the only alphabet book I still have at home. None of the kids had seen it before, and they loved looking at all the detailed illustrations and finding all the hidden objects. They weren't so sure about making their own book though, and I had to give them suggestions on what to draw, but I think this is going to work out.

After class, I made a sakura inspired sample for next week. The cherry blossoms are all in bloom right now, and I saw some similar kid's art at the Richmond Cultural Centre on the weekend. This sample is made by blowing liquid watercolour paint around on the page to create the "trunk" and then dabbing on blobs of pink. I used the end of a paint brush, but I think I'll give the kids bundles of cotton swabs tied together.

The second session of the adult Exploring Acrylics class is tomorrow. In addition to the individual paintings, we are working on a collaborative canvas. I started it off with a bit of paint and some scraps of paper stuck down. I wish I had taken a "before" photo before the group started painting. 

Here's how it looked after the end of the first class: