Feelers

Project 1: pencil drawing (in this case, a black leaf beetle)

I was teaching an art camp for kids at my studio last week, "Insect Abstractions." My idea was to do a variation of the O'Keeffe inspired classes that I had previously taught, to both kids and adults, and which always were fun to do and brought about stunning results.

For the insect camp I thought it would be interesting to first make a realistic pencil drawing of a particular bug, and then in two steps move more and more away from this realistic drawing by simplifying the image and exaggerating certain details.

Project 2: watercolor and ink drawing

Three projects in 15 hours, very doable. However, these kids loved to talk. About Pokemon characters, indispensible devices, and all those fidget spinners, about sad family matters, and, surprisingly, about Aerosmith.  Generally, I love when that happens. I mean, I love when people make connections in my studio. The socializing and connecting aspect I find as important as the art-making aspect, and it makes me happy to see this actually happening.

Anyways, these kids loved to talk, and some of them had a hard time finishing their projects. Two students promised me to finish their last pieces at home and to show them to me tomorrow.

Project 3: oil pastel

I am excited to share the works that were done in this camp very soon. They are quite fantastic.

Until then, these are just my samples.