Art Lesson #1

On Friday morning, my neighbor girls Maggie and Lucie came over for their first art lesson in our studio.  Maggie, 7 and Lucie, 4 are home schooled by their mother Anna Kate.

Their first lesson needed to be light and fun, an introduction into the limitless world of creativity.  The girls made greeting cards.  They were provided with plenty of supplies including crayons, colored pencils, markers, glue, scrap paper, glitter, cardboard, and fabric scraps.  The fabric scraps seemed to be the favorite along with the glitter.  They were each aloud to use scissors too as I was not holding back when working one on one with them.  They each used them with great control and impressive skill.  

 I pulled samples from my own personal collection of handmade greeting cards, which I keep stocked and ready for sending to friends.  I shared a few and gave them instructions while they snacked on some homemade banana bread.  Without hesitation, the girls jumped right into the project.  They are very good at staying focused.  I think this comes from their home school background, as they do not have many distractions in their daily environment.

Using the glue was good practice especially for Lucie.  Children tend to use too much glue so we were working on controlling the amount needed to stick each piece to the paper.  With a little guidance, Lucie was well on her way to becoming a glue expert at the ripe age of four.  Lucie finished sooner than Maggie and went into the living room to visit my boyfriend Cam who is also an artist.  Cam read Lucie a few books while Maggie continued to work.

When the one hour lesson was finished, the girls proudly held up their greeting cards to show their mom.  They even had a special card made just for her, and one for me too!  The girls left their cards to dry in the sun.  Next week, Cam will be introducing the girls to drawing and using their box of pastels!