The kids have been having so much fun with our rapid-fire skribble drawings that we continue to do them although this will be the last week because we need to move on. Perhaps we can use it to round out the last 10 minutes of classes in the future but we have been doing them so often lately that I am concerned that some students are getting burned out in the process. We definitely can't have that because the idea behind art is that it is supposed to be a joyful experience for the creator as well as the observer of the finished product.
This time one of the students finished well before the 10 minute deadline and even though it is sloppy I really like the end result and so did he!
One of the things I particularly enjoy about this is down there on the street he started to draw some people on the right, screwed up while doing so and then just decided to make a mess of lines and yet, in the end, it just kind of works. If you look at it a while, you can kind of see people there even though that is not what it looks like.
I believe that art is a lot more fun when some of it is left up to your imagination. I doubt if it was this insightful as far as a 9 year old is concerned, but it could be saying something about the hustle and bustle of every day life - how life is a blur to all of us because we are too busy to stop and enjoy what is going on around us.
He also told me that originally he was seriously focused on the flag but found it was taking too much time so he didn't even finish the building that it was meant to be attached to. Well, if you ask me he didn't need to finish it because it is perfect the way that it is!
Next week we are going to move onto something that requires a bit more of a steady hand and probably even introduce some oil paints so that the students can experience how unforgiving using that particular medium actually is. Up to this point we have mostly been focusing on watercolors, pencils, and felt-tip pens because they are cheap and you can correct your mistakes pretty easily. Anyone that has painted with oil paints before knows that once it hits the canvas, it better be in the right place because you can't take it off!
Till next time!
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