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Thursday, October 05, 2006

Back to school



I've been giving art lessons to Kamal and his friend Patrick and this week I decided to try a still life, something I know the boys haven't done before and something I haven't done since school. Patrick brought along a brand new set of Caran D'ache watercolour pencils he'd been given and although I've got the neo set, these were new to me and I think I will be getting some of my own. They are so easy to use and the colours so rich and vibrant - yum!! I'm not sure who got more out of the lesson this week, Patrick or me. Unfortunately I forgot to photograph Patrick's masterpiece before he left but you can see Kamal's on his blog.

Tomorrow (Friday) Kamal and I are going to see the exhibition we are both in for artistic families and Saturday we are doing the first craft workshop for the local kids in the next village I mentioned the other week so we have a fun weekend ahead. Working with children is so enjoyable and fulfilling and although I have no desire to be a teacher fulltime I am thinking about looking into the art therapy side of things. Learning for little ones is so intrinsically linked to art and creativity in general and can help them develop in so many different ways, also I was talking to another artist who teaches a 90 year old woman with short term memory loss and when she starts painting it seems to unlock part of her memory and she recalls parts of her life which she had otherwise forgotten. I find this really fascinating and I really feel it might be time to learn a bit more about it and put my own abilities to some practical use. How or what I haven't figured out yet but it will be an interesting journey.

4 comments:

natural attrill said...

I did a course in london many years ago, called 'art from within' I really enjoyed it, painting dreams and anything from 'within' really. It is suprising what pops up when you dont use words/speech.
My brother did MA in Art Therapy in St Albans, again, a long time ago now.
I sound so old, everything was 'a long time ago' I guess my life is full with being a Mum and fulltime illustrator at the moment. Before becoming a parent there was alot more time for reading and doing courses etc! Still, time to come, I enjoy the Mum part at the moment.
Let us know how you get on with your learning, I know you are an artist, have you done any of the therapy side?
Best of luck with it all.
Penny.

Karen Jinks said...

I suppose I'm preparing for when Anya starts nursery in a couple of years and I have the days to myself again. I don't want to go 'out' to work but I like the idea of doing part time tutoring at a college or school and as I already spend a lot of time doing craft things with kids of Kamal's age voluntarily it makes sense to back it up with a bit of knowledge or qualifications and perhaps get paid for it. But then again I might break into the illustration business and follow that instead, who knows! just keeping my options open and my brain active!

natural attrill said...

I have just added lots of links to our blog including you and Kamal, hope that's ok.
Penny.

Joanna said...

I love teaching children art. I find it a great contrast to painting on my own. I have just started some adult lessons too. I mainly do private lessons to families as I tryed setting up a group hard, I will set up a group one day again when I find a suitable place to hold it. I'm very interested in the art therapy side too, but I don't think I can do any more studying at the moment the ma is quite full on. So I just offer what I can.