Sunday, November 3, 2013

{Art Lessons: Painting}

This last week during our weekly art lesson (<-- a="" and="" for="" grandma.="" her="" i="" info="" nbsp="" on="" p="" painting="" pricing="" sheridyn="" small="" worked="">
She said her grandma loved purple blossoms so we sat down and I helped her come up with a plan for a scene that included purple blossoms. 

She wanted a path and a tree and a sunset and birds. 




One thing I LOVE about teaching art lessons is teaching small tricks. Younger kids especially, like Sheridyn, don't know how to use paint brushes or pencils to their advantage yet. A large part of that is that they don't have the dexterity for it. But often all they need is for you to show them an example of how to hold the brush or the pencil to create the kind of stroke or line they want. Then they try it themselves. Then, as the teacher, I'll hold her hand that it holding the brush or pencil and do the stroke with her. For Sheridyn, this makes a HUGE difference. As soon as we do each of those things she gets it and can do it herself.
One of her favorite tricks I've taught her about painting is when you have a lot of paint in your brush but its gobbed up near the top and you want to get as much out of the paintbrush as you can, you turn it on it's side and twirl the brush against the pallet or even against your canvas. This pulls the gob of paint out of the brush and makes it available for use.
I love it when she realizes while painting that she can do this. She'll stop and look at me and then look back and do it on her own while telling me that she remembers what to do.

I love teaching. :)

Cherise Larue Davies 

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